"Green Laws, Landscape Codes in The Twenty-first Century"
Prof.
Buck Abbey, ASLA, CELA
Louisiana
State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
©
all rights reserved
"Green
Laws, Landscape Codes in The Twenty-first Century"
Abstract
Architects,
Engineers and Interior Designers have designed with life safety codes for many
years. The codes set forth design standards, commonly accepted
construction practices and agency requirements that must be met in all
construction. Designers are required to see that their construction plans are in
compliance and contractors must build according to the code.
Only
recently have landscape codes come into existence in communities across the
nation and the profession of Landscape Architecture is fast having to change the
way they approach design. More and
more communities are requiring that landscape plans be drawn to code and meet
requirements of landscape ordinances that are being enacted by city councils
across the land. This is having
both positive and negative effects on the way landscape architects practice and
on the way universities train students to enter this fast changing profession.
Landscape codes are forcing the profession to change.
The
article presented here defines the general nature of a landscape code,
illustrates typical design components, mentions codes from specific cities and
gives three examples of the types of laws that are starting to regulate the
practice of landscape architecture. Landscape codes will change the practice of landscape
architecture in the twenty-first century.
Green
Laws in the 21st Century
The
twenty-first century may well be the time in which landscape codes are put into
effect in every city in the nation.
Landscape
ordinances often called "green laws" or "landscape
ordinances" are the only urban legislation concerned with the green and
growing infrastructure of a community. Landscape Architects in the twenty-first
century will surely see more laws and ordinances regulating their work and
protecting the environment. Some regulation will be welcome, some may seem a burden and
some will not be wanted at all. Never-the-less
in the years ahead, we will see more law effecting the profession of landscape
architecture. Some of those laws will make the profession grow and prosper while
others will become new tools for urban design.
Landscape
codes are the newest of these regulations and are an important issue facing
landscape architecture. These codes
that effect site planning and design have only been around since the late 1960's
and early 1970's and are largely unknown in many areas of the country.
Professional firms and any university teaching landscape architecture must now
take notice.1.
Many landscape architects are unaware of these laws which have become
common since the famous Aryes v. City Council case of 1949. See Figure
1. As an example of a lack
of familiarity with landscape codes, standard landscape architecture texts do
not mention landscape design regulations and no university in America offers
formal classroom lectures on this subject.
The first book published on landscape ordinances was not available until
July 1990 2.
so this is an important corner of the
profression that has been overlooked.
Building
codes, hurricane codes, flood proofing codes and other life safety codes which
serve a similar purpose for the built environment have been in effect in this
country for many years. However, in
most cities in America, the work that landscape architects do, seldom falls
under the building codes that regulate the practice of architecture,
engineering, interior design or general construction.
Landscape architects, of all the design professions, rarely have their
plans and specifications reviewed by local permit or inspection offices or by
offices of State Fire Marshals, whose duty is to insure compliance with health,
safety and welfare laws. In several
states, landscape plans do not even need to be prepared or stamped by landscape
architects. Landscape ordinances in
the nest century will change this
of course.
Cities
are writing landscape ordinances, modeled after and adopted from ordinances
passed in nearby cities and towns.3.
City officials have found that these ordinances are useful for directing
growth in a positive manner and for making cities more livable. There is presently no national standard for the drafting of
landscape codes. This may change as more and more information is published about
this type of legislation.
Landscape
Codes
An
emerging way to ensure that nature in the city is cared for is to enact a
landscape code which specifies minimum standards for caring for nature in the
city. In recent years, city
after city across the nation have turned to this type of legislation as a means
of ensuing better community design and better care of nature in the city. The
landscape ordinance in the City of Los Angeles is a good example of a law based
upon natural science and factors of nature.4.
Green laws give landscape architects greater influence on issues of urban design
and community planning.
Landscape
ordinances typically provide for the preservation of natural features such as
wetlands, erodible slopes, special native habitats and specimen trees.
In some communities, the total context of their ordinance is the
protection of the public water supply while in other communities it is the tree
canopy that is important to preserve. Many
communities enact ordinances merely for beauty or economic development but there
are other reasons. In recent years
Davis, California enacted a landscape ordinance
for solar control while Irvine, California enacted an ordinance to promote
sustainability. 5.
Many communities in the Florida such as Lake Mary and St. Lucie County base
their ordinances on water conservation and reuse. 6.
Most
landscape ordinances provide that nature is re-built following common
construction activities which are sure to happen in places where people settle.
Construction take a toll on nature primarily through site clearing and grading
which remove trees, native top soil and alters the ground water table or site
drainage regime. Enlightened communities no longer allow developers
carte-blanche power to build construction projects without considering nature or
the natural infrastructure of the city.
Green
laws bring about community design by law. When
the need to protect nature in the city was realized as important, communities
like Tampa, Florida, Ann Arbor Michigan and Glendale, Arizona found that written
development law seemed to be the
answer.
Communities
across the nation are finding that enacting at least one of three typical types
of landscape ordinances is beneficial.
Types
of Landscape Ordinances
There
are several types of green laws in America.
The LSU School of Landscape Architecture, landscape ordinance research
project, uncovered three general types of landscape ordinances in their recent
nationwide study of this subject. Researchers found that green laws fall into
one of three categories.
1.)
Tree ordinances are the oldest type of landscape ordinance.
These
are single issue laws that focus on municipal tree care and they have been
popular throughout the county since the 1930's. These were originally drafted to
set up city forestry departments, care for public trees and to regulate the
arborist industry. Modern decedents of this type of ordinance focus on urban
forestry and tree management practices.
In
recent years, the emphasis of this type of ordinance has shifted toward placing
oversight of a community's tree population to a public body known as a Tree
Board or Tree Commission. 7.
These commissions are broadening their scope from merely public tree care
to preserving tree canopy, protecting specimen or historic trees and saving
habitats in urban places. Increasingly,
this type of ordinance is being drafted to prevent tree removal and regulate
trees on private property. Some
tough battles are being fought over tree protection in places like Atlanta,
Georgia, Raleigh, North Carolina
and Metairie, Louisiana. One of the newest tree protection laws now being
drafted in Lexington, Kentucky will set standards for the amount of tree canopy
and shade that must be provided on each zoning district in the community.
2.)
Post construction landscaping ordinances are becoming the most dominate type
of green law in America. Simply
called "landscape ordinances" or "landscape codes" they are
being drafted in America's cities, suburbs, small towns and high end villages to
regulate landscape design, maintenance and plant material installation
practices. This type of ordinance requires planting of building sites following
construction. Some excellent
examples of this type of ordinance can be found in places like Los Angeles,
California, DuPage County,
Illinois, Austin, Texas and North Miami Beach, Florida.
Landscape
ordinances, as commonly written in America, consist of a series of "design
components" and "technical standards" that define them. Table
1 illustrates seventeen design components that were found after reading
and analyzing laws from five or six hundred communities.
Design
components are sections of a
landscape ordinance make reference to specific parts of a site,
building lot or development property. These parts of the site must be
designed using "minimum" standards, specifications or technical
requirements set forth in an official city law known as a landscape ordinance. Figure
2 illustrates one of the "design components" (parking lot
screen area) found in this type of law which must be included on the landscape
plan. In Glendale, if you look
carefully at the law defining the design components you will see specific
language known as "technical standards."
These standards must be met in the preparation of the landscape plan.
8.
Taken together, design components and
technical standards define the structure of most laws of this type. Figure
3 is a diagrammatic site plan that illustrates the various design
components which together comprise the "geography of a development
site."
Not
surprisingly, this type of ordinance is commonly drafted, administered and
complied with by the landscape architecture profession. In many cities,
especially in Florida, California and Texas, projects do not proceed to building
permit stage until landscape architects prepare these plans and seal them with
their professional stamp.
3.)
Comprehensive landscape ordinance,
sometimes called a "land alteration ordinance" or "land
development code" are the newest type green law found in the United States.
This type of ordinance regulates thoughtless site clearing and habitat
destruction and set tough new standards as to what natural resource, can or can
not be disturbed. These are very
sophisticated highly regulatory ordinances that control not only landscaping but
land clearing, tree protection, tree removal, storm water management,
erosion control, ground water recharge, water conservation, wetland preservation
and land grading.
The
codes from the City of Tampa, Florida and Hillsborough County Florida are good
examples of this type of ordinance.
9. Both laws restrict the clearing
of land and promote the preservation of trees, the protection of natural habitat
and more sensible land use planning. Landscape architects play important roles
in the administration of these laws and landscape architects are the consultant
of choice, called upon by developers to steer the development through the
regulatory maze that these laws create.
All
three of these types of ordinances have a place in society and all of them
effect the profession of landscape architecture, urban forestry, horticulture
and landscape construction. In the future, we may well see more of this type of
ordinance rather than less. Recent
research and an increasing public interest in this subject shows evidence of
this trend. Universities and
professional practices will have to change, and change fast, to meet the demands
that these laws are placing on a very small but growing group of dedicated
designers.
More
detailed examples of each type of ordinance can be found in the book, U.S.
Landscape Ordinances published
by John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Conclusion
Landscape
ordinances have a short but interesting history but it is the future that holds
great expectations for these the newest of planning tools. Landscape ordinances
can increase livability in towns and cities across the land and are the smart
growth tools of the future. Landscape
codes will change the profession of landscape architecture and may very well
evolve into site design and urban design standards for most communities in the
next century. These urban design
standards will be created from the landscape design components that we find in
the contemporary landscape codes of the late 1990's. Landscape architects are
well positioned to take advantage of the vast amount of design work that will be
needed to comply with the standards and requirements set forth in these codes.
Any urban design standards that may be created in the future as a result of the
acceptance of landscape codes, will surely change the world we live in. It will
be a better designed environment.
The
well written landscape code of tomorrow will set forth design components and
technical standards that are carefully crafted into law in order to merge the
built environment with the natural.10.
Effective green laws of the next century should be development friendly,
clear, specific and creative. If based upon sound design principles, communities
will "build better landscapes in the twenty-first century."
_________
Footnotes:
2.
3. The School of Landscape
Architecture at LSU in a recent study of ordinances from across the country
found scattered clusters of ordinances with very similar structure and
vocabulary which illustrates a regional basis of development. A standard model
code is presently being drafted at LSU.
4. As seen in Los Angeles
Municipal Code, § 12.40, "Landscape General Requirements," Ord. No.
170-978, May 12, 1996.
5. Refer to the Davis City
Code, Ordinance No. 920, §29-160, § 29-179.5.1., § and City of Davis Zoning
Ordinance §29-180. Also, City of Irvine, Code of Ordinances, Division G,
"Sustainability in Landscaping,"n.d.
6. See City of North Miami
Beach, Zoning Ordinance, Article XI, "Landscaping," March 17, 1992,
Also, St Lucie County Code, Section 7.09.00, Landscaping and Screening,"
August 1, 1990.
7.
8. See Section 30-1211,
"Glendale Municipal Code-Open Space And Landscaping," n.d. Glendale,
Arizona.
9. See Hillsborough County,
Ordinance No. 92-05, "Hillsborough County Land Development Code,"
March 1992. and Land
Development Code, Chapter 13, Article 1, Section 13.1, "City of Tampa
Landscaping, Tree Removal and Site Clearing Ordinance," Ord. No. 89-262,
October 12, 1989. Originally, Ord, No. 6481-A adopted September 21, 1976.
10. Perhaps in the future,
the Standard Building Code, as published by the Southern Building Code Congress
International will recognize the importance of landscape codes and include a
model code in their fine set of performance based construction
standards.
Figure
1 : Ayres v. City Council of Los Angeles
____________________________________________
Habitat Preservation Zone
Building Site Location
Street Tree Planting Area
Site Open Space
Street Yard
Waterfront Yard
Vehicular Use Area
Interior Landscape Areas
Parking Screens
Bufferyards
Street Wall Plantings
Parking Wall Plantings
Loading Docks & Trash
Storage Area
Sign Monument Area
Sight Triangle
Utility Connection Zones
Hydro Zones
Retention / Detention Basins
ADA Areas
____________________________________________
Table 1 :
Landscape Code Design Components
Figure
2 : Parking Lot Screening
& Earth Cover, Glendale, Arizona
Figure 3 : Geography Of A
Development Site
Biography
Prof.
D.G. Buck Abbey is Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at LSU and
Principal of the landscape architecture - planning firm Abbey Associates, Inc.
Abbey received his terminal degree from Harvard University.
He is a recognized authority on municipal landscape ordinances and is
author of the book U.S. Landscape Ordinances published by John Wiley & Sons,
Inc. in 1998. He maintains a
research web site at LSU on the subject of landscape, tree and land alteration
ordinances.