A few years ago, Philadelphia's tree canopy coverage was a mere 20 percent. TreePhilly, a nonprofit tree-planting group is supporting the Philadelphia Greenworks Plan by planting thousands of trees across the city. These are the fall colors on Philadelphia's Belmont Plateau.

The Pennsylvania Shade Tree Ordinance of 1700 (2 Pa. Stat. 66 Ch, 53) is the ancestor of modern landscape codes. This public law was enacted to meet Penn family desire to create a "greene countrie towne."

The vision of the town from the beginning was one in which trees and landscaping were major factors in creating a wholesome community.

The 1907 Pennsylvania Tree ordinance created shade tree commissions statewide. Their purpose was to carry out "the planting and maintenance of street trees in the townships boroughs and cities" of colonial Pennsylvania. Trees are a hallmark of this community.

Philadelphia Code
The current landscape code, included with the community zoning law, is still concerned with trees. It may be found in The Philadelphia Code, Title 14, Zoning And Planning, Chapter 14-700 Development Standards, § 14-705 Landscape and Trees (AmLegal). The landscape code for Philadelphia, though not up to contemporary code standards, is today still focused on street tree plantings.

The current code provides minimal standards for street trees, landscape buffers, irrigation, as well as installation and maintenance of landscape and trees.

Street trees are provided for all developments of 5,000 square feet or larger, with few exceptions. Trees are to be planted 35 feet on center, but no closer than 15 feet. The exact planting location is undefined as to public or private land. Planting plans must be approved by submission to the licensing and inspection office. Few design directives are given in the code. The technical standards are minimal. Even the purpose of the code is not clearly expressed. What is this code attempting to accomplish? It does not seem likely that one tree and four shrubs planted 25 feet on center in 15-foot wide planting area will make a very effective industrial screen. This is a technical flaw not often seen in landscape codes. Credit is provided for preserving existing trees. Heritage trees cannot be removed without conditions. Total caliper inches of nonheritage trees over 2.5-inch DBA that are removed from a building site must be replaced. Closely related articles provide regulations for walls, fences and outdoor lighting.

More Greening
This code needs upgrading to meet common standards in use today in other communities of its size and density. This is particularly so in regard to sustainable landscaping practices.

Philadelphia is one of the leading cities in the nation working hard to become more sustainable. The city has plenty of good direction toward sustainability, but must incorporate those ideas into their landscape code. The city can begin by drafting a purpose clause to meet certain goals of the Philadelphia Greenworks Plan.

This plan includes several sections in which the landscape code can assist the city in meeting sustainability goals. Relevant sections of the Philadelphia Greenworks Plan include energy, environment and economy. Greenworks targets central to a redrafted landscape code include canopy standards, air quality, landfill reductions, onsite stormwater management and greening of parking lots. A great community landscape code can assist a city in meeting its sustainability benchmarks.

Buck Abbey believes Philadelphia's goal to become a more sustainable community should begin with a redrafted landscape code to meet certain goals of the Philadelphia Greenworks Plan: canopy standards, air quality, landfill reductions, onsite stormwater management (top rendering) and greening of parking lots (bottom rendering).

Green Tools
The city has several tools that can easily be included within a redrafted landscape code. The city's Design Guidelines for Off-Street Parking is one of the first in the nation to recognize the benefits of green parking. These green parking strategies for alternate pavements, bioretention, subsurface infiltration, solar lighting and car charging should be adopted. Parking areas should be adaptable for multiple uses, car sorting and to encourage biking. Construction materials should be carefully chosen for local manufacture using sustainable natural products.

TreePhilly, a nonprofit tree-planting group, is working hard to support the Greenworks Plan. The group is planting thousands of trees across the city. A revised landscape code will help them. A few years ago, the city's tree canopy coverage was only 20 percent.

The city's Stormwater Guidance Manual, prepared by Philadelphia Water, and the Green Streets Design Manual, created for the Mayor's office of transportation and utilities, offers many technical solutions that can be incorporated into a revised landscape code. These are ideas that will green the city. Chapters 7 and 8 of the manual suggest that landscaping is a critical element of stormwater management in the city.

Landscaping is an important component of the Philadelphia Green Streets Program as well. The landscape code might address green streets and green parking, too.

Philadelphia ought to allow optional use of the sophisticated calculations used by the recently released SITESTM V.2 rating system for sustainable land design and development. Adoption of SITES standards as the centerpiece of a rewritten code would make the Philadelphia landscape code one of the best in the nation. A revised community landscape code could push Penn's vision into that of a "greene urban towne."

You may contact the author by email at lsugreenlaws@aol.com, or call Abbey Associates Landscape Architecture at 225.766.0922.