ATHENS, Ohio — At its Oct. 9 meeting, the Athens Shade Tree Commission and dozens of residents pressed the city to retain the commission’s review and approval role for development landscaping after planning staff circulated a package of city code changes that would move that authority to the Planning Commission.

Commission members and residents described the proposed changes as a major shift in how new development would be held to tree-planting and landscaping standards, and said the package—first circulated in May and revised several times—initially proposed a large reduction in planting requirements before a more recent draft restored the higher planting density. The commission did not vote on the code language at the meeting; members urged the public to attend a Planning Commission review next week and future City Council readings.

The commission’s chair (name not specified in the meeting record) outlined the changes and said the city’s earlier draft would have removed the commission’s approval authority and drastically cut the required number of shade trees for new development. The chair said the commission had objected; in response, city planners circulated a new draft that keeps the current planting densities but still shifts approval authority away from the Shade Tree Commission and into the Planning Commission’s process.

Why it matters: Commissioners said the Shade Tree Commission provides technical review focused on tree canopy, and that losing approval authority would reduce oversight of developers’ plantings. Several speakers warned that an early decision to remove the commission’s authority could weaken enforcement and long-term canopy goals, including the city’s stated 40% canopy target in its sustainability plan.

Discussion highlights

- Commission role and timeline: Commissioners said the city’s proposed process would instead solicit the commission’s input at a preliminary review stage—often months before a final submittal—creating a risk that the commission would be consulted too late to influence final plans. “We have not had great back and forth with the city,” the chair told the meeting. Commissioners said that pattern could result in being consulted “maybe 1 day before” approvals.

- Planting densities: The chair said planners initially proposed reducing the current requirement of roughly one large (or two medium) shade trees per ~1,700 square feet developed to about one tree per 4,500 square feet. After commission pushback, the chair said planners removed that reduction from the newest draft and left the higher planting densities in place.

- Quorum and appointments: Commissioners and residents raised a separate but connected concern: the mayor has reportedly declined to appoint or reappoint new members to the Shade Tree Commission while the code package is pending. That stance, speakers said, could reduce the commission below quorum when seats expire and jeopardize its ability to operate and the city’s standing with the Tree City USA program. The chair said: "the mayor is refusing to reappoint or appoint any new members to the commission until these code changes are met," and warned that failing to maintain a quorum would imperil the commission’s operations.

- Manufacturing exemption: Commissioners noted one provision the city kept in the draft—an exemption for manufacturing developments from shade-tree requirements. Commissioners flagged that as significant because large manufacturing or data-center projects often create big tree losses and otherwise would contribute payments to the city’s tree bank when they cannot meet on-site requirements.

Community input and outside resources

A succession of residents and local advocates spoke against removing approval authority and urged the city to strengthen oversight rather than weaken it. Mary Reid, a member of the Athens Arbor Day Committee, said the committee had proposed a code change requiring contractors the city hires to grind stumps after city removals: “I have already made the suggestion that we update the landscaping ordinance to require a company that the city contracts with when they remove a tree to grind the stump.”

Amy Delich, chair of the Athens Environment and Sustainability Commission, tied the canopy to greenhouse-gas goals and said Athens’s tree cover helped produce a low per-capita emissions result in 2019: “We had the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per capita of any city in Ohio.” Molly Jo Stanley, who serves with Delich on the sustainability commission, said a nonprofit, Power Clean Future Ohio, has offered a free tree-canopy assessment and that acceptance of outside assessments could support the city’s planned update to its greenhouse-gas inventory: “this would be an incredible benefit to that.”

Other meeting business and formal approvals

The commission approved routine items and community plantings at the meeting. Motions passed without recorded opposition to:
- Approve the minutes of the previous meeting (motion carried; vote recorded as all in favor).
- Approve a replanting permit for a right-of-way tree removal at 5 Sunnyside (applicant to replant; stump removal/site prep remains the landowner’s responsibility per current city practice).
- Approve Jen Bowman’s planting request for Eastside Park (behind Walmart), a city-property planting tentatively set for Saturday, Nov. 1; the request listed roughly 20–25 fruit and nut trees (persimmon, elderberry, swamp white [species listed on the permit as swamp white oak], fig, mulberry among others).

Planning next steps

Commissioners said the Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the code package at its next meeting (next Wednesday at noon, per the commission), and that the matter would likely move to City Council for reading and vote thereafter. Several speakers encouraged residents to attend both meetings to offer public comment.

Ending note

Commission members repeatedly called for stronger staffing and a dedicated urban-forestry point person in city administration. They said a permanent staff capacity—rather than a volunteer reliance—would help with stump grinding, planting continuity and enforcement of post-construction landscaping maintenance. The commission urged residents to follow the Planning Commission agenda and to attend a community “tree talk” planned for Oct. 20 to coordinate public response.