When Landscape and Hardscape Plans are Needed?

 

The preparation of landscape plans is usually requested for brand new houses and it is mandatory for new commercial projects, unless the scope of works is just a tenant improvement inside an existing retail and it is not inside an important shopping mall. Sometimes with the submittal of preliminary landscape and hardscape plans is enough.

We have worked with Westfield corp. and they have their own designs and standards, the transition between the retail and the open public space may require hardscape and landscape design. 

Cities like Santa Ana, always request preliminary landscape for tenant improvements (unless there is no way to have landscape).

For house remodels and additions it is not needed, but the project I am showing above was a room addition for a house on hillside in Fullerton, and the City requested a full survey of existing species. I think it was more a formality, the plan was approved without a single correction.

A project of addition/remodel in Beverly Hills that is on Mulholland Scenic Drive will need a clearance for landscape in Zoning department Los Angeles.

This one is a case of Code Enforcement in Santa Ana. The homeowner had more than 50% of impervious area at the front yard and the inspectors enforced him to submit some basic landscape plans to fix the situation. 

Preliminary landscape in Hemet for a Clothes Alteration shop.

Preliminary landscape for Site Plan Design Review Board, Santa Ana.

Note that landscape plans are usually completed with grading and water management plans, prepared by a civil engineer and based on our design. Sometimes the water management is not easy to resolve. This project (above) of offices addition in Los Angeles is not completed yet. This is what we call a "grandfather" job, where the existing has been approved many years ago and does not comply 100% with the current regulations. When an alteration and addition is proposed, we have to comply with the current codes as much as we can. In this lot we do not have enough permeable soil for the roof drainages. The grading engineer suggested an underground tank with a sump pump. We expect the City will request soils report and of course structural engineering for the tank, given the amount of water to drain. The planters are not enough.

This is a minor scope of works in Santa Ana. The owner of this retail wanted a new gate and iron fence, due to the homeless camping in the front gallery. The City requested preliminary landscape for the front yard. 

NOTE: The examples I am sharing in this post are for illustration purposes, not full projects. The landscape plans were designed by myself and I cropped the plans in order to protect the clients privacy.  They are part of construction documentations for new and remodel-additions projects, residential and commercial. The details and notes are not shown here.

An old project of a backyard landscape and hardscape. Two trellis, a rest area with shelves for statues, pit area, jacuzzi. Three different floor textures were proposed and the organic overall design in contrast with hard geometries.