S.D. Focus Turns Greener Under Landscape Law
The greening of San Diego is about to pick up speed.
For too long in San Diego, landscaping has been an afterthought, if a thought at all. After Kate Sessions, the mother of San Diego horticulture, died in 1940, no one stepped in to push for landscaping.
Architect Ed Malone once remarked, quite rightly, that landscaping has a greater overall impact than architecture. When plants mature, they screen and soften the impact of buildings. For pedestrians and motorists, plants modulate the experience of moving along city sidewalks and streets.
Now, through the efforts of city officials and concerned San Diegans, landscaping is once again getting the attention it deserves.
The city is gearing up to better carry out a 1986 ordinance and an accompanying manual spelling out how new projects must be landscaped.
Kelly Broughton was hired in December as principal landscape architect, replacing Tom Story, a guiding force in drafting and implementing the ordinance. (Story is now deputy director of city planning.)
Soon, nine new landscape experts will be added to the current staff of five, augmenting Broughton’s ability to see that landscaping on new commercial and multifamily residential projects gets as much attention as architecture.
In 1986, San Diego created a position of principal landscape architect to oversee the new landscape ordinance passed earlier that year.
The private sector is also lending a hand.
Owners of single-family homes, which are not covered by the ordinance, are being enlightened by such private groups as People for Trees. Formed early last year, the organization has already helped several neighborhoods plant trees along streets.
Sessions, who for years operated a huge nursery at Sixth Avenue and Upas Street on the edge of Balboa Park, was single-handedly responsible for many of the trees (especially palms) that are such a large part of San Diego’s character. She was the city’s first proponent of palms, planting hundreds and hundreds, including the Cocos plumosas along 6th venue, between Upas and Date streets, and at Horton Plaza park downtown.
But as San Diego rapidly grew in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and as city funds for landscaping public rights-of-way dwindled, neighborhoods suffered.
Today, some streets are lined with large old trees, which add a kind of friendliness and warmth.
Far more, however, are lined with concrete sidewalks, driveways and other cold, harsh elements. Entire neighborhoods, on the edge of Point Loma, for example, have coaxed gravel or painted concrete front yards into an art form.
One trend that prompted the new law was the tendency for large, desolate apartment complexes to replace small, single-family homes--and their accompanying front gardens--in many neighborhoods.
Already, according to Story, the ordinance has led to improvements.
“What was happening in the Mid-City area (including Normal Heights, Kensington and portions of East San Diego) was that homes were being bought up, leveled and replaced with a six- or eight-plex,” Story said. “They were filling the entire lot, except for the required setbacks, and putting all the parking right up front by the streets. Front yards became garages and concrete driveways for two- or three-story buildings. If there was enough density, they also put parking on the back sides of the buildings.”
Under the landscaping ordinance, such “street yards” must now be 80% landscaped, precluding the parking lot syndrome. Builders have had to tuck the rest of their parking behind or beneath buildings.
The ordinance also requires a minimum of landscaping in front of commercial buildings.
Already, the ordinance and manual have improved new projects.
On Sports Arena Boulevard across from the Sports Arena in San Diego, a shopping complex changed owners two years ago and was remodeled, adding a new Home Depot store and other businesses.
“When the Home Depot opened, existing landscaping was kept, but we had them add a lot more trees,” Story said. “People have mentioned how good the quality of the development is now.”
In front of the mall, Sports Arena Boulevard is now lined with carrotwood trees. Peppermint eucalyptus and evergreen pear trees break up the monotony of the parking lots. Median strips are planted with such low water-use shrubs as India hawthorn and natal plum. Grass, known for its thirst, is used sparingly.
Besides specifying both the quality and quantity of landscaping for a variety of projects, the ordinance details plant materials that conserve water and resist fire. One goal is to encourage the use of drought-tolerant ground covers in lieu of lawns.
Native vegetation is to be retained where possible. Irrigation systems must meet strict standards, including the use of moisture sensors to minimize water waste.
But city rules alone won’t make for a more beautiful San Diego, especially in older residential neighborhoods, where new development governed by the ordinance is minimal.
Knowing this, and knowing that there’s no city money available for landscaping these streets, a group of San Diegans led by John and Ann Richards of Ocean Beach has banded together, calling itself People for Trees.
Story has been a member from the beginning. The organization tries to join needy neighborhoods with corporate donors, with advice on tree selection available through the city’s Planning and Park and Recreation departments.
People for Trees coordinated the planting last spring of 50 fern pines on Waring Road, just north of Interstate 8 near Mission Valley, where several large ash trees had been removed after their roots began to destroy sidewalks. The trees were donated by Kaiser Permanente.
All told, People for Trees has supervised the planting of 2,000 trees along streets, and at schools and other public places. This year, the organization will plant at least 1,400 more trees, with the help of a $42,000 state grant for street trees awarded last fall.
In Southeast San Diego, Project First Class, started five years ago by then-City Councilman William Jones, is aimed at neighborhood improvements, including the installation of street trees purchased with federal money channeled through the city of San Diego. So far, 65 trees have been planted in and around Memorial Park, and five at Martin Luther King Jr. Park.
The city is encouraging these efforts.
“Led by People for Trees, the city is adopting a citywide tree-planting goal and policy statement,” Broughton said.
With state Arbor Day coming March 7, and national Arbor Day on April 28, it’s a good time to think about trees. You can contact People for Trees at 231-3713
