Media Contact
Name: Amy Mehaffey
Phone: 936-559-2573
Email address: mehaffeya@ci.nacogdoches.tx.us
The City of Nacogdoches invites all residents to a face-to-face discussion on a proposed revision to the commercial landscaping ordinance. The discussion will be held at the Judy B. McDonald Public Library on May 4, 2016 at 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
This is part one of the five part discussion series to be held over a course of months in order to gain feedback about issues involving the City of Nacogdoches and its improvement efforts. Residents are invited to share ideas to help shape proposed revisions to the commercial landscaping ordinance. The event will also feature a hands-on activity for youth whose parents want to attend the discussion. This activity will be supervised and hosted by library staff.
“We wanted a community engagement effort to give residents a voice. This is especially important when thinking about devoting public resources to certain issues, Amy Mehaffey, Communication/Main Street Director said. “Being able to work with the community to decide what issues are worth investing is crucial.”
City staff invites all Nacogdoches residents to attend this first session. Requests from citizens, developers, and stakeholders such as Keep Nacogdoches Beautiful and the Garden Capital Committee have indicated it is time for a review of the commercial landscaping ordinance. This will bring residents together to discuss important issues facing the city.
“The commercial district landscaping ordinance was first adopted in 1998 and has undergone few changes since that time,” Larissa Philpot, Director of Municipal Services, said. “City staff has drafted an ordinance we hope will meet the needs of our community, and we welcome any suggestions to improve the draft before it is sent to the City Council for final consideration.”
“It is clear citizens have valuable opinions and a great love for their community,” Mehaffey said. “We as city staff of course welcome this feedback and want to vet any major changes to ordinances through our most important stakeholders.”
The revised commercial landscaping ordinance discussion event will cover the following topics:
Topic 1 – Revision of outdated, unnecessary portions of the development standards section of the zoning ordinance. Also inclusion of more graphics and tables to make the ordinance more accessible to the public.
Topic 2 – Proposed requirements for interior parking lot landscaping and areas of pervious cover.
Topic 3 – Proposed tree preservation or tree upsize incentives.
Topic 4 – Proposed administrative issues including variances, phasing of development, and specifying the type of construction which triggers the ordinance.
