Landscape Architecture Gains Local Visibility

When James Gibson saw what he thought to be a 200-year-old oak tree being chopped up and burned in Rogers recently, he took it to be a sad symbol of the times. A landscape architect with CEI Engineering & Associates Inc. in Bentonville, Gibson said a Bradford pear replacement just wouldn’t do it justice.

“I ask people what kind of city do you want to live in,” Gibson said. “You have to make a conscious decision to design it to be that way.”

Patrick Hargus, a landscape architect with EGIS Engineering in Bentonville, said sometimes landscape architecture gets forgotten.

Of the 38 firms listed in the Business Journal’s 2005 Largest Architecture and Engineering Firms list, eight listed landscape architects on staff. The list had 13 landscape architects all together, see list p. 37.

Eight were listed in 2004 and nine were listed in 2003.

There are a total of 43 registered landscape architects in Benton and Washington counties.

“A lot of it is education,” Hargus said.

“People don’t know what a landscape architect is.”

Frederick Law Olmsted is known as the founding father of the landscape architecture discipline. Olmsted piloted 19th century projects such as Central Park in New York City and The Biltmore Estate in Ashville, N.C.

Hargus said landscape requirements of some local municipalities have increased the visibility of landscape architects.

In the fall of 2004, Bentonville updated its landscape ordinance asking that plans be completed by a professional landscape architect so the city can review it for compliance, said Shelling Rushing, the city’s planning services manager.

“[Landscape architects] are going to be knowledgeable in landscape design, the use of the trees and shrubs for longevity,” Rushing said.

Darrel Smith, senior planner with the city of Rogers, said the city last updated its landscape ordinance in November.

“As the price of land goes up, people are trying to get more and more on a piece of property and use smaller pieces of property,” Smith said. “A lot of people would try to put concrete from property line to property line.”

Smith said landscaping also helps with drainage and water quality.

Rogers’ ordinance states that if a developer has less than two acres, there must be 20 percent green space and one tree or shrub for every 1,000 SF of developed area. Rogers amended that requirement to allow the developer the option of having 15 percent green space, but the developer had to increase the caliber of the trees and have one tree or shrub for every 500 SF of commercial space.

Smith said there are green space requirements for residential development, but no landscaping requirements.

Gibson said he thinks that other states, such as Texas, where CEI Engineering has a Dallas office, are much stricter.

“In Arkansas, this state has a [landscaping] stamp law, but it’s rare I stamp plans here,” Gibson said.

Dirk Thibodaux, project manager with Freeland-Kauffman & Fredeen Inc. in Bentonville, said that both Bentonville and Fayetteville require a stamp from landscape architect for plans that deal with certain ordinance compliance issues. Springdale and Rogers do not.

Thibodaux said he imagines more cities will follow suit.

“It’s going to be easier on the planning departments by requiring that stamp,” he said.

“I think cities are requiring more and better design,” Gibson said. “They’ve gotten stricter. I think it is because they are realizing if they don’t, the developer is going to develop their towns. But [developers] may not be here in 10 years.”