By VICKI URBANIK

New residential subdivisions and commercial developments that are a sea of asphalt, devoid of greenery, might soon be a thing of the past in unincorporated Porter County.

The Porter County Commissioners on Tuesday gave first reading approval to four measures on landscaping and trees, as amendments to the county’s Unified Development Ordinance.

The UDO currently has landscaping rules, but Porter County Plan Commission member Rick Burns said planners have found that the current language requires a “bare minimum” of landscaping. For example, the UDO calls for trees 1-inch in diameter and very short bushes. The new requirements will increase those sizes to 2-inch trees and bushes two feet tall.

Burns, who headed a plan commission committee that recommended the changes, said the new requirements are not extreme and that many municipalities already have such rules on the books.

County Commissioner President Robert Harper noted that the city of Valparaiso has requirements for tree plantings in new yards. The county’s rules do not address yard plantings, leaving that up to the homeowners.

One of the landscaping provisions, dealing with street trees, will require at least two trees, at least 10 feet tall, to be planted between the curb and the sidewalk in front of each new house in subdivisions.

Porter County Plan Commission Assistant Director Ray Joseph said as the trees mature, they will have a cooling effect in the subdivision. County Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger noted that some subdivisions have been allowed without any landscaping at all.

As part of the new landscaping measures, the plan commission is also working on a tree preservation ordinance aimed at preserving existing trees in new developments. The planners have not yet acted on that ordinance.

Also Tuesday, the commissioners agreed that the plan commission may seek quotes in order to publish a guide that will give the public an easy-to-understand outline of the new landscaping rules. Harper said the plan commission has funds leftover from the development of the UDO for this purpose.

Posted 6/18/2008