[PCA] QUESTION: Information on native plant ordinances? (fwd)

[Melinda Mohrman]

I'm very pleased with our ordinance here in Chesterfield, Missouri.  While we don't offer tax benefits, we have found a way to distinguish between native landscapes and "unkempt" landscapes, which was a big struggle here for a while.  Some of our residents wanted to encourage native or greener landscaping methods, while others felt that anything besides freshly mown turfgrass was an eyesore.  Of course there is also the issue of someone claiming they like the "natural" look when they really aren't maintaining the property at all.  The city wanted to find a way to allow homeowners or developers who wanted to maintain a native landscape to do so, while maintaining the authority to enforce property maintenance standards.   The ordinance references the USDA invasive species list, as well as our own Missouri Department of Conservation list of nuisance plants.  Basically, the presence of these plants in a landscape tells us that it is not being managed as a native landscape, and we can take the appropriate action to get a landowner to clean up their property.  A copy of the ordinance can be found here:

http://www.chesterfield.mo.us/webcontent/ordinances/2008/ord2498.pdf


Mindy Mohrman
City Arborist/Urban Forester
690 Chesterfield Parkway West
Chesterfield, MO 63017
636-537-4773




From: native-plants-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org [mailto:native-plants-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf Of Kim Winter
Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 1:22 PM
To: Olivia Kwong; native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org
Subject: Re: [PCA] QUESTION: Information on native plant ordinances? (fwd)

Brendan,

Wild Ones Native Plants has a webpage dedicated to template ordinances that might help you.  I'm not sure whether any of them offer tax benefits, though.

http://www.for-wild.org/weedlaws/weedlaw.html

Kim Winter
Piedmont Environmental Council
On Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 9:17 AM, Olivia Kwong <plant at plantconservation.org<mailto:plant at plantconservation.org>> wrote:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
I am working through the Earth Day Coalition and Cleveland State in an
attempt to find ordinances elsewhere in the US that provide preferences
(e.g. tax benefits) to the planting of native plants over exotic species. Such ordinances would be used as an example for new programs in the city of Cleveland.  Any examples of ordinances or leads would be welcome.


Thank You

 Brendan Barrington
 <barringtonbc at my.hiram.edu<mailto:barringtonbc at my.hiram.edu>>
 216 952 0518

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