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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,May 20,2013 Page 18 At the request of Councilmember Laliberte, Mr. Paschke advised that he had not performed the field review before Preliminary Plat approval for the Josephine Woods project, and had not done so with this project to-date. Mr. Paschke noted that this was second version of the Preliminary Plat coming forward as revised further. Mr. Paschke advised that, the intent of the Preliminary Plat was for ap- proval of the basic plan, with subsequent approvals addressed as part of building permit submittal and sign off; with his personal inspection on site to address whether things were being accomplished in accordance with the approved plan. Councilmember Willmus questioned, as part of this Preliminary Plat approval process, if the City could mandate tree planting by the developer. Mr. Paschke responded that, for screening and similar reasons,he was not aware that the City couldn't condition approval on those types of things; and as dis- cussed at the Planning Commission, and as the development continued to move forward,those conditions could be addressed on the parent parcel, and possibly for the adjacent properties. At the request of Mayor Roe, Mr. Paschke advised that the Final Tree Preserva- tion would be part of the Final Plat approval, and didn't require City Council ap- proval, as per current City Code; with the Community Development Department, as past practice, reviewing and approving numerous tree preservation plans city- wide, whether in industrial, commercial or residential areas. Mr. Paschke clari- fied that there was nothing in existing Code that limited their removal of trees, simply requirements that they replace those trees removed based on certain re- quirements at a certain caliper diameter, and in cases such as this, where trees were necessarily removed as part of their grading plan. At the request of Mayor Roe, Mr. Paschke advised that an additional condition of Preliminary Plat approval could be a separate plan for more screening from adja- cent properties. Councilmember Willmus,with concurrence by Mayor Roe, opined that the Pre- liminary Plat was the time to add additional conditions. Councilmember McGehee advised that, in her review at Josephine Woods this spring, she had observed several mature trees that had exposed roots or root dam- age, with many of those mature Oak trees not showing immediate evidence of damage. Councilmember McGehee advised that she would be reviewing the re- sults of the existing tree preservation ordinance; and agreed with residents adja- cent to this proposed project and their concerns about preserving mature trees on their lots. Councilmember McGehee opined that tree preservation was and should be an aesthetic consideration throughout the community, and should not simply be replacing a 60 inch bulk of 7-8 trees with 60 of 1 inch diameter.