Reply To: Why are there \"weak talented\" Licensed Landscape Architects???

[Nick Schmidt AICP, PMP]

I’m not a landscape architect and I don’t have a landscape architect license. I don’t have a BLA or an MLA. Who the hell cares?

As a planner I did landscape plan reviews for several municipalities a decade ago (and I started at age 24). I remember at least 2 or 3 landscape architects who ran independent practices. Their work was filled with errors over multiple sites over multiple municipalities. They were constantly hired by different clients despite the awful work.

Typical Planting Plan Errors by “Older” Landscape Architects (insert sarcasm here)
(based on personal review of ~650 planting plans for 13 municipalities over 4 years of all age groups)
1. Plant unit tables drawn by hand but not checked with a calculator. Incorrect plant unit tabulations for bufferyard landscaping, foundation landscaping, parking island landscaping, and woody plantings along a stormwater high water line.
2. Beautiful colored hand renderings of 5 different types of parkway tree symbols (in 5 colors) but the plant species table listed them as a single tree species (Acer rubrum or red maple).
3. Same as #2 but the tree species is Acer japonicum (Japenese maple which is not used as a parkway tree)
4. Large 8′-10′ existing heritage trees in the middle of a property where the building will be built. These are not identified in the Tree Preservation Plan and there is no provision for replacement costs in the petitioned plans).
5. Trash enclosures have 8′ barbed wire fences (ouch).

Yeah, I guess I don’t know a thing about landscape design being a 38 year old land planner.