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The SPRO determines how new development fits into the city?EUR??,,????'?????<
Plans and drawings must include compliance with specific design/landscape standards and site plan policies. These are central to good design. Site plan policies address planning, urban design, site engineering, traffic and fire safety. These are clearly spelled out in the ordinance and affect land development, circulation, public safety, connection to sewer, water and other utility systems and even include the ?EUR??,,????'?????<
Review, revision, resubmission, appeal and penalty clauses in this ordinance make it function. Perhaps the single most important feature of the SPRO is its design manual that clusters all important design information in one place, and plans must be drawn accordingly. The use of site-plan review is another way a community may develop better landscape design regulations.
Subsection 9 of Sec. 82-213 of the Des Moines, Iowa SPRO influences the design of the urban landscape. Landscape design standards are included within a design review of building sites over 10,000 square feet to ensure orderliness, quality and character of development. The SPRO facilitates coordination of land usage to specified site plan policies related to urban design, site engineering, circulation, traffic, fire control and access to city services and public utilities. This ordinance references landscape design standards carefully and graphically displayed in the Des Moines Landscape Standards Design Manual. This manual, illustrated with photographs and drawings, is available from the Des Moines Community Development Department Permit and Development Center or on-line at dmgov.org/departments/CD/P%20D%20C/index.htm.
The 59-page design manual includes six chapters of landscape standards and eight appendices of additional information?EUR??,,????'?????<
Each of the six chapters presents the technical requirements for the landscape standards. As an example, shopping centers exceeding 100,000 square feet must establish a minimum 10-foot wide buffer yard containing a continuous six-foot tall 75 percent opaque fence or wall and planted with two overstory trees and six evergreen trees for each 100 feet. Parking lots in neighborhood commercial zones containing more than 50 spaces shall be landscaped with one overstory tree and three shrubs for each 20 parking spaces. Parking lots in commercial shopping centers must have a perimeter planting strip as a parking lot screen. This planted screen must separate the parking from the adjacent property line fronting streets and alleys with a 20-foot planting strip, one overstory tree and three shrubs per 100 linear feet of edge. These are not exceptional requirements and the planting density is somewhat transparent, but the standards are well accepted here.
Other landscape standards exist for building perimeters and front entryway landscaping but strangely are not included in the design manual, nor are technical standards for the planting of ground covers, vines, turf grasses, hedges and native Iowa wildflowers. Irrigation and storm-water management are not part of these landscape standards, although reference is made to storm water as it pertains to site engineering review. Here, storm water is piped to storm sewers. Allowable runoff is equal to predevelopment conditions of the site during a five-year return frequency storm. On larger projects, some detention is required to ensure that the postdevelopment volume between a five-year storm and a 100-year storm is detained on site.
Screening of service areas, loading docks, utility connections with landscaping, walls and fencing is also not addressed by the code. There is no mention of habitat preservation for unique site features but developers are encouraged to map and protect all existing trees larger than six-inch caliper. This community encourages the preservation of trees by giving credit toward the required design standards. In some instances certificates of appropriateness are required from the historic district commission as part of site plan review.
Information is provided to assist designers with drawings and specifications to meet the requirements of the landscape standards. There is supplemental information for soil amendment, maintenance, plant types, structural soils and planting details. This information is in the appendices that accompany the landscape standards. The landscape standards are also supplemented with comments from the author to interpret and clarify the technical language and sketches. Together, they make the landscape standards easy to understand and follow. The technical standards contained within the code are not excessive compared with codes from other parts of the country.
According to Joseph Bohlke, zoning officer for Des Moines, it was the city?EUR??,,????'?????<
Perhaps the best thing about the Des Moine, Iowa Site Plan Review Ordinance is it works equally well for new construction in the suburbs or reconstruction within inner city commercial neighborhoods.
General: Minimum plant material sizes?EUR??,,????'?????< Open Space: At least 20 percent of all lots must be open space. Unpaved water detention basins count toward this requirement. The minimum planting requirement is one overstory tree, one evergreen tree and one shrub for each 5,000 sq. ft. Buffer Yards: For lots between 15,000-100,000 sq. ft. a minimum 10-ft. wide buffer yard containing a continuous six-foot tall 75 percent opaque fence or wall and planted with two overstory trees and six evergreen trees per 100 lf of property line. Parking Lots: With certain zoning districts, all parking lots containing more than 50 spaces are landscaped with one overstory tree and three shrubs for each 20 parking spaces. Parking Lot Screens: Perimeter planting strips separating parking areas from property lines in certain zoning districts shall be seven to 10 feet in depth and consist of one overstory tree and three shrubs per 50 lf of paved parking surface edge. Parkway Plantings: Plantings within street tree planting areas shall consist of 1.5 to 2-in. caliper trees planted for each 30 ft. of frontage. Root paths, to allow root growth through structural soil, aree spaced four feet on center in a radial pattern under adjacent walkways. Plant Equivalents: One 1.5-in. caliper overstory tree equals two six-ft. evergreen trees or equals three one-in. caliper ornamental trees or seven deciduous or evergreen shrubs.
Francisco Uviña, University of New Mexico
Hardscape Oasis in Litchfield Park
Ash Nochian, Ph.D. Landscape Architect
November 12th, 2025
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