Baxter, Minn. (pop. 7,610) is located in the central part of the state just west of Brainerd, Minn.

While most community ordinances tend to mandate more landscaping, the Baxter, Minnesota City Council voted May 21, 2013 to loosen landscape requirements for new additions to commercial properties that comprise five percent or less of the total square footage.

The decision arose from an 8,430-square-foot addition to Forestview Middle School. The council questioned whether such small additions need follow the letter of the landscape ordinance, which would require the extra cost of putting in landscape islands and trees in the parking lot.

Turns out, the school is putting in islands, anyway. The current standard for parking lots in Baxter is a landscape island for parking lots with more than eight marked spaces.

The council went back and forth regarding what size addition should get a pass from the landscape ordinance. It finally settled on five percent.

Loosening landscaping standards perhaps is fair, given that Baxter, Minn. has plenty of greenery, and other nature, like multiple lakes on which to recreate.