CRESTVIEW — Councilwoman Robyn Helt’s effort to establish a committee to advise city officials on developers’ horticultural requirements has hit a snag.
At the Jan. 12 meetings of the Community Redevelopment Agency and the City Council, Helt proposed reactivating the dormant Beautification Committee, which last met in 2004.
Helt suggested staffing the committee with horticulturists, county extension agents, Crestview Garden Club members and landscapers to help rewrite current landscaping requirements that stipulate specific varieties of trees and shrubs.
There's a reason for that.
“Many of our business owners have found that in implementing the code, they're being required to plant things that are going to be chopped down by Gulf Power or they're going to grow up so well they block the view of the business,” Helt said.
However, unlike most city committees, the Beautification Committee’s mandate is delineated in the economic development portion of the city’s comprehensive plan. To change it would require the state's approval, administrative assistant Teresa Gaillard said.
Upon realizing that the committee’s mandate also includes presenting awards for landscaping excellence, Helt said, “I don't know if standing up the former Beautification Committee is what we need.”
Helt suggested the city take a different direction to avoid complicating the matter.
“Let's forget what was said about beautification and create a committee to advise on landscaping,” she said. “I just don't want us telling people they have to plant a specific species of trees that they're going to have to cut down in two years because it doesn't grow right.”
Gaillard said her department is already working on revising city codes, including landscape requirements, as part of the Evaluation, Appraisal and Recommendations Report the city is required to file with the state every seven years.
“Mrs. Helt’s got a good idea and a great direction,” Gaillard said. “It is one of the same directions we’re running. It’s a little different process. Like everything else, we have to follow the code itself.”
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Councilwoman: City needs horticultural experts' advice