ODESSA, Texas — The city of Odessa could be seeing some new landscaping coming to their city.
Their current landscaping ordinance will be getting some changes, which was discussed at a meeting at Odessa College in front of the public and various shareholders.
“We want to find ways to improve it. Make it easier for developers and for the city to interpret the landscape ordinance and bring in more native and drought resistant plants," said Aden Herrera, a planner with Dunaway Associates. "[It'll] make it an easier process for everyone and, once we bring everything in, looking at maintenance and ways to keep the city looking great.”
One of the main reasons changes are coming to the landscape ordinance is because of the growth seen by the city. Changes to the ordinance will hopefully simplify the language of the ordinance to make it easier for city leaders and developers to implement it.
Herrera and her team have the experience necessary to make the changes.
“Things are more complicated sometimes than they need to be," Herrera said. "We bring in tools like plant checklists and plant lists and things like that to really break down the process that it makes it easier for the city to implement it along with those developers and landscapers coming in.”
To better field opinions, a community survey was put out to gather as many opinions as possible.
Different questions were asked, such as where the new landscaping changes should be made, what plants should be added and where they should be added.
Many new trees and shady areas are planned to be made to downtown Odessa and various parking lots across the city.
These landscape changes will mostly be made to the downtown area and commercial areas.
“It's going to be more of those commercial areas, For example, like downtown. It's also going to be city spaces and stuff like that, but it's going to be more predominantly commercial," Herrera said. "Whenever you go into new commercial strips or industrial areas and things like that, it'll have more trees in the parking lots."
Plants that are being considered are ones that will be able to thrive in the dry climate of Odessa. However, those plants will also need to thrive in a drought environment while also being able to survive in near-freezing conditions during the winter.
“Just because we're Odessa doesn't mean that we can only have cactus and things like that," Herrera said. "There are trees, there are shrubs that are drought resistant and don't require a lot of water, so they're easier to maintain. They also keep your water bills low.”
Maintaining the new landscaping is essential as well.
The plan is to work with the city and listen to residents and business owners about who is not maintaining the landscaping and why they are not maintaining it.
The goal is to hopefully keep the landscaping well maintained and beautiful for the long haul.
“We're investing a lot into these properties and into making them look good. We want it to be a long term project, not just whenever we first put these things in," Herrera said. "I think it's longevity of community pride and just beautification of our city, and we all love West Texas and we love Odessa. It's our city and we want to make it better.”
The new ordinance has already begun to be written up. In about a month, it will be formally reviewed before it is brought forth to the Odessa City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission.