Trees

and trailers will be on the agenda for the

Fayette County Planning Commission in its monthly

work session tomorrow.

The

group meets at 7 p.m. in the Planning Department

office, second floor at the County Administrative

Complex.

proposed new, more restrictive tree preservation

ordinance has been on the group's agenda for

several months now. Following a recent hearing on

a rough draft, commissioners hope to refine the

ordinance and get it ready for a vote in the near

future.

Current

regulations require that developers place a

minimum number of caliper inches of trees on

developments, but those requirements can often be

met in a developments required buffer areas,

leaving no trees in the interior of the project.

Proposed

new rules would increase the number of trees

required, and would require that some of the

trees be outside the buffer areas. Also, the new

law would give developers twice as much credit

for saving existing trees as they would get for

planting new ones, to discourage stripping land

of all trees prior to construction.

Commissioners

also will examine the county's ordinance

governing temporary use of portable offices and

classrooms for churches.

spokesman for New Hope Baptist Church recently

asked the County Commission to direct the

Planning Commission to study the law, saying the

church used a temporary classroom recently during

one construction project, and is thus prohibited

from using another one during yet another

expansion project currently underway.

In

a fast-growing area, churches need more leeway,

the spokesman said.

Also

on the agenda for Thursday's work session,

commissioners will discuss a series of proposed

"housekeeping" changes to the county's

subdivision and development regulations.

All

meetings of the commission are open to the

public, but the group ordinarily doesn't accept

public comment during work sessions.