Minutes - Environmental Policy Board - 11/18/2019

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City Planner Anderson stated that the second part of the discussion tonight will focus on City Code to determine if changes should be made to ensure that the Code is achieving the desired results. He stated that this amended plan would not skimp on landscaping and would still be a thorough planting of the site. He explained that would not be the same as someone coming along with a very bare landscaping plan. Motion by Board Member Hiatt and seconded by Board Member Bernard to recommend approval of the revised Landscape Plan. Motion carried. Voting Yes: Chairperson Valentine, Board Member Hiatt, Bernard, Covart, Fetterley, and Moore. Voting No: None. Absent: None. City Planner Anderson provided a review of the current landscaping requirements of the City and asked the Board for input on whether amendments should be made to ensure the desired goal is being achieved. Board Member Moore stated that she has noticed over the past year or so that whenever a larger building is proposed for development they are attempting to squeeze in trees and a reduction is ultimately approved. She believed that it would be viable to continue discussion on amending the Code requirements related to these large industrial buildings. Chairperson Valentine agreed that it would seem the Board would need to review the Code requirements to determine what would be appropriate for industrial buildings. He stated that he would be interested in knowing the requirements of other peer communities. Board Member Hiatt asked how close the amended landscaping plan would come to meeting the requirement if the tree and shrub requirements were applied to the greenspace area rather than the building area and parking lot. City Planner Anderson stated that based on the Code,that would be based on the linear footage of the site and therefore would still not change the number drastically. Board Member Hiatt commented that especially in the industrial park area, where there are large buildings and large parking areas, it would make sense to simply consider the greenspace areas on that plot. He agreed that it would not make sense to require a large number of plantings that would ultimately need to be reduced in future years as they grow. City Planner Anderson stated that idea is very similar to how the planting requirements are applied in the multi-family districts currently. He stated that he will attempt to put together some information the Board could review to see how that formula would translate to this district. He noted that he will also gather the requirements from other communities. Board Member Covart asked and received confirmation that both the original and amended landscaping plans included a stormwater pond. She asked if the stormwater ponding could be excluded from the calculations as well. Environmental Policy Board/November 18, 2019 Page 3 of 6