Lake Jackson planners direct staff to draft clearer landscaping rules for small infill lots and preserved trees

The City of Lake Jackson Planning Commission directed staff to prepare ordinance amendments clarifying two landscaping issues: (1) whether perimeter/screening trees may be counted toward area-based tree requirements (commonly called “double-dipping”), and (2) whether previously planted or transplanted, established trees may be treated as protected trees eligible for preservation credits.

Staff described recurring difficulties on small infill parcels where a strict reading of the code requires separate tree counts for screening and for area-based landscape requirements. That approach can produce large nominal tree totals for very small sites — site plans with extensive perimeter screening may still be required to provide additional interior tree plantings by the ordinance’s area calculations, creating what staff and some architects call impractical outcomes on small lots.

Planning staff recommended, and the commission agreed for interim guidance, that developments two acres or smaller be allowed to apply screening trees toward the area tree calculation (i.e., limited double-dipping) to keep small-lot projects feasible at the…