Native Plant Species Project
Preliminary Recommendation to Planning Board
March 4, 2009
Citizens for Lexington Conservation applauds the measures being taken by the Planning Board in devising zoning amendments for the Hartwell Avenue Commercial District. CLC is especially encouraged by the inclusion of many environmentally friendly measures including consideration for non-automotive transport, energy efficient building design, and open space protections.
Under the category of open space protection CLC would like to specifically recommend that these zoning amendments include a provision requiring, or at the very least, strongly encouraging, the use of non-invasive native plant species for any future landscaping improvements made by property owners in this district.
Choosing native plant materials is important for many reasons:
- Native plant species are adapted to local climate conditions, and once established require little or no irrigation. This reduces demands on public water supplies while saving the property owners in landscape maintenance costs.
- Native plant species do not run the risk of introducing non-native invasive species that spread to neighboring properties, displacing native species.
- Many native plant species are perennial in nature, thereby reducing overall landscape maintenance costs, and reducing the amount of fossil fuel consumption and emissions from landscape maintenance practices.
- Native plants provide vital support for a diverse and balanced food web that is essential to a sustainable ecosystem. To quote from a noted authority on the subject, Dr. Douglas Tallamy, Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, “We humans have disrupted natural habitats in so many ways and in so many places that the future of our nation’s biodiversity is dim unless we start to share the places in which we live – our cities and, to an even greater extent, our suburbs – with the plants and animals that evolved there.”
- The Hartwell commercial district directly abuts portions of the West Lexington Greenway making this an especially sensitive area in this regard.
CLC offers as a prime example of what this requirement could achieve, the choice of native plant materials being considered for the town’s new DPW building. CLC has invited representatives from the Tree Committee and the Conservation Commission to jointly develop a list of acceptable planting materials for use in the Lexington community over the coming months in support of this recommendation, and looks forward to submitting a copy for consideration by the Planning Board as part of these zoning amendments.
