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Commission advances draft landscape ordinance, keeps tree requirements and new live-vegetation standard
Summary
The Fairfield Planning Commission continued work on a draft landscape ordinance on Jan. 7, 2026, retaining tree requirements, adding a replacement/maintenance requirement, keeping a 5% parking-area landscaping minimum and adopting a 20% live-vegetation minimum; the draft will go to formatting and legal review before a public hearing.
The Fairfield Planning Commission on Jan. 7, 2026, continued its review of a proposed Landscape Ordinance and agreed on several substantive changes aimed at balancing water-wise landscaping with the town’s visual character.
Chairman Commissioner Taylor said the goal was to complete a working draft suitable for formatting and legal review prior to scheduling a public hearing. Commissioners agreed to retain tree-planting requirements and to add explicit language requiring that required trees be kept alive and replaced as necessary. The commission reaffirmed that landscaping oversight by a landscape professional would be required and maintained a minimum requirement that five percent of parking areas be landscaped.
Members revised water-wise standards to require that at least 20% of landscaped areas consist of live vegetation distributed evenly across a site rather than clustered, and they kept the phrase "where applicable" for drip irrigation to allow site-specific flexibility. The definitions section was adjusted to clarify that roadway gravel does not count as landscaping and to broaden the definition of "landscape professional" so it is inclusive of qualified practitioners without requiring landscape-architect licensure.
After those edits, commissioners directed staff to send the ordinance draft to Vonda Cook for formatting and then to the Town Attorney for legal review; a public hearing will be scheduled after legal review is complete.
