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Commission debates rewrite of landscaping ordinance, balancing water-wise standards with enforcement
Summary
Commissioners reviewed a proposed rewrite of the town's landscaping ordinance (Chapter 19), focusing on drought-tolerant planting, numeric standards (turf caps, planting sizes), who reviews plans, and enforcement. No final ordinance vote was taken.
Fairfield's Planning & Zoning Commission conducted an extended review of a proposed landscaping ordinance intended to replace or refine existing Chapter 19 landscaping standards. Commissioners discussed the document line-by-line, focusing on definitions, minimum standards, plan review responsibility and enforceability.
Key points: commissioners agreed the ordinance should emphasize desert-appropriate, drought-tolerant species and water-wise practices rather than requiring lush, irrigation-heavy plantings that "won't grow here." Participants debated numeric standards: nonresidential turf was proposed to be limited to 30% of landscape area; commercial/industrial parking must include a minimum percentage of landscaped area (the draft contained 15% of parking area, a figure some commissioners questioned and asked staff to calculate for sample sites); planting-size minimums were discussed (evergreen minimum height 6 ft at planting; ornamental trees 1.5-inch caliper; suggestions to align caliper/size definitions); and decorative rock and weed-barrier depths were negotiated (members ultimately agreed to 3 inches deep over permeable weed barrier for decorative rock).
Review responsibility and enforcement drew repeated questions. The draft required nonresidential applicants to submit a landscaping plan prepared by a licensed landscape architect; commissioners voted to change that requirement to accept a "landscape professional" and to rely primarily on the building department to review and ensure compliance at the permit stage, rather than automatically sending every plan to the town council. Commissioners also discussed requiring completion of landscaping for nonresidential projects before issuance of certificate of occupancy and the need for local code enforcement to follow up on dead plantings.
No ordinance was adopted at the meeting; staff (Stephanie) was asked to reconcile the wording (e.g., replace "landscape architect" with "landscape professional," confirm numeric standards such as 15% parking-area landscaping, and return a revised draft). The commission will continue review in a future packet.
