Oshkosh advisory board backs adding native species, raises incentive for developers to 20%

The Sustainability Advisory Board on March 3 voted to recommend that the City of Oshkosh expand its landscaping species list, include resilience weights for those species, and raise the existing native-plant bonus from 10% to 20%.

The board said the actions are intended to encourage developers to use more Wisconsin native plants in required landscaping for developments covered by Chapter 30 of the city zoning code, and to increase diversity and resilience of planted landscapes.

Why it matters: The board framed the changes as an adjustment to how landscaping points are awarded for development plans. Under the current code, different plant sizes and types yield landscaping points developers must meet. The board argued that an increased bonus and an expanded native list will make native species a more attractive and practical choice for developers and homeowners, and better support urban resilience and biodiversity.

Board discussion focused on practical implementation, enforcement and the mechanics of translating “resilience weights” into landscaping point values. Members debated whether the native bonus should rise from 10% to 20%, whether to ascribe higher point values to certain high-resilience species, and whether the planting rules should require a minimum mix (for example, a 75/25 split or minimum counts by category) to encourage diversity rather than concentrated plantings of a single species.

Community development staff and board members agreed the next step is to work with planning staff and the city forester to convert the resilience weights into zoning point values and to confirm whether the code already allows “mix and match” counting per plant. The board proposed a staff-assisted subcommittee to draft redlines and a recommended approach to bring to Plan Commission if needed.

Votes and formal recommendations (voice votes): the board approved (1) raising the native-species bonus from 10% to 20%; (2) adopting the additional Wisconsin native species list into the code with the resilience weights shown in the meeting materials; (3) removing specific species from the existing recommended species list per recommendations from Jacob (Cluso/Claymeier) and UW Extension; and (4) allowing perennial plantings to be counted in a mixed, per-plant way rather than only grouped blocks (the “mix-and-match” change).

Quotes from the meeting included Jacob Claymeier arguing for the list and for resilience-based scoring and Emma (community development staff) explaining the procedural steps: "It has to go through plan commission, and it would actually require a change to the zoning ordinance," and a board member urging that the native bonus be larger: "I think the native species need to have a higher landscape value because they have a higher resilient value."

Next steps: Staff will confer with planning and the forester, prepare draft redlines or a recommendation, and return to the board. The board also agreed to consider forming a small working group to help produce a clear proposal for Plan Commission and to clarify whether the existing code already allows mixing species counts.