Commission recommends Highway 707 buffer amendment that doubles plant counts; neighbors urge keeping existing trees

Planning staff detailed a text amendment to the Highway 707 overlay that raises required buffer plantings and increases the spatial width of some buffer types. Staff said Type A buffers would increase to 6 canopy/6 understory/40 shrubs with 50% evergreen requirements for canopy and understory and 100% evergreens for shrubs, effectively doubling prior planting counts. Type B becomes 3/3/25 with a 10-foot spatial buffer (previously 5 feet), and Type C is standardized to a 25-foot buffer and now requires that at least 50% of the planting be tree species.

Steve Theiss, vice president of the Greater Burgess Community Association, told the commission the rules "really didn't change a heck of a lot" but urged that existing vegetation be preserved rather than cleared and replaced with small stock: "we'd like to see some more, if there's already vegetation there, to leave it there rather than clear cut it and put up some whippers that none of us on this board will ever see any kind of size." Staff explained the amendment will proceed to INR and then to council for final action. The commission voted to recommend approval of the text amendment.

The staff presentation included a chart comparing prior and proposed plant counts and noted the change in Type C from a variable 10%-of-depth or 25-foot rule to a fixed 25-foot requirement. Commissioners asked procedural questions about the relationship between overlay definitions and Article 5; staff confirmed the buffers align with current Article 5 definitions. The public comment underscored a local preference for retaining mature vegetation where possible rather than relying on small replacement plantings.