Developers find themselves paying to live up to the requirements, with neighboring towns able to woo them without any such ordinance.

“A developer can save money in neighboring Millbrook,” said Prattville Mayor Jim Byard about the ordinance, a priority of his first term. “It’s a quality-of-life issue for us. We want the city to look good.”

“Can it be cost prohibitive to landscape extensively? Yes. But we look on it as a matter of aesthetics,” said Michael Smith, a developer with Collett and Associates, the Charlotte, N.C.-based firm building Prattville Town Center. “We landscape all our properties, whether it’s required or not. In Prattville, we wanted to have very high standards as far as landscaping goes because we are the front door of Prattville.”

Little touches do make a big difference, said Cindy Bell of Prattville.

“I think it makes the stores look better when there are plants and trees,” she said. “Nobody wants to see just asphalt and concrete. And it’s really important in the summer time.

Source: www.montgomeryadvertiser.com