Vincennes landscape ordinance still taking shape

“We're just not quite there yet,” he said.

Chattin has been working closely with Drews on the drafting of the ordinance, and the top priority, he said, isn't in exactly what kind of trees and shrubs that should be planted around a new or expanding business but in the enforcement of the ordinance itself.

The city has for many years had a landscape ordinance on the books, but it's rarely enforced.

Chattin said during a recent re-codification process, it was left off entirely.

Years ago, then mayor Al Baldwin gave to the city's Tree Board the responsibility of overseeing the landscape ordinance, but it only reviewed a couple of plans before the requests stopped coming.

Former Tree Board president Ryan Lough, who recently stepped down from the board, said he's watched as development after development has moved forward without putting back the appropriate amount of green space.

So why tighten up an ordinance, he asks, when the looser one isn't being enforced anyway?

“These [landscape rules] are being passed over,” Lough said. “My problem here is that we can change this ordinance but what about the current one? Why isn't it being enforced?

“Why are we adding more to something that isn't enforced in the first place? We're looking to increase responsibility but without increasing accountability. It doesn't make any sense.”

Chattin, however, has said a recent draft of the ordinance takes into account most of Lough's concerns.

In fact, language that would have allowed the city inspector to sign off on a landscape plan is now gone, thereby mandating that all submitted landscape plans go before the Tree Board for review before a building permit is issued.

Mayor Joe Yochum, too, said he hopes the ordinance is an opportunity for a fresh start. The inspector's office, he argued, isn't intentionally leaving off the landscape plan but, instead, simply forgetting as they're consumed by a sea of other duties.

“But maybe this will help, updating and renewing the ordinance,” Yochum said. “Really, there are several ordinances like this one that need to be looked at, updated or even better enforced.

“For this one, we just need to make a check list to make sure we are looking at all parts of an application before a building permit is issued.”

Among other things, the ordinance would set up a specific tree-to-parking spot ratio. Previous drafts dictated that at least one tree be planted for every four spaces. There must also be ample green space, which is to be determined by the amount of sidewalk and parking spaces. The newly proposed ordinance even outlines what native tree and shrub species would be allowed.

And developers can be fined for not complying.

Other details, Chattin said, continue to take shape, but the city's top priority in this process should be in ensuring that the landscape ordinance — regardless of what it looks like in the end — is adhered to and followed.

There have been a number of developments, both Chattin and Lough said, that have gone up in recent years without proper landscape plans, to the detriment of the city's overall streetscape.

“But this new ordinance should make this process clearer for everyone,” Chattin said. “It very clearly states that the inspector shall promptly — promptly — make the referral (to the Tree Board), and that a permit can't be issued until a landscape plan is approved.

“And it also states that the landscaping has to not only be planted but maintained because that's been an issue in the past, too,” he said.

“More than anything, this (ordinance) just needs to be placed back into our code and, obviously, followed,” Chattin said.