FLORIDA CHAPTER
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS
5123 Kernwood Court, Suite 100
Palm Harbor, FL 34685
Tel: 727-938-6752
Fax: 727-942-4570
SUE FERN
Association Manager
FLORIDA CHAPTER
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
E.J. BOLDUC III
President
KENN BATES
President-Elect
DANA WORTHINGTON
Past President
DAVID FERRIS, JR.
Secretary
MIKE MILLER
Treasurer
JEFF CASTER
Trustee
BRIAN TRAYLOR
Broward
MARGARET MOMBERGER
Daytona Beach
DANIKA RANDOLPH
Gainesville
CHRIS FLAGG
Jacksonville
TED BAKER
Miami
MICHAEL EKBLAD
Naples/Ft. Myers
ANDREW SHEPPARD
Orlando
JONATHAN HAIGH
Palm Beach/Treasure Coast
IVY CLINTON
Tampa Bay
VACANT
Tallahassee
MATHEW POWERS
Florida A&M University
EBRU OZER
Florida International University
GLENN ACOMB
University of Florida
MARY BATES
Member at Large
Education and Research
RICHARD TINDELL
Member at Large
Public Relations and Marketing
GEORGE GENTILE
Member at Large
Leadership and Membership
PATRICK HODGES
Member at Large
Advocacy and Licensure
February 7, 2010
Florida Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects
Government Affairs Committee
Grassroots Advocacy Talking Points - Stormwater Management Design and Permitting
Background
- Landscape Architects are regulated professionals under Chapter 481 who have a minimum of a 4 year college degree from an accredited program and have passed a licensing examination. They are regulated by a state board and are represented by a state Society of nearly 900 members and a national Society of over 25,000 members.
- For decades, the state has recognized that Landscape Architects are capable and authorized to practice storm water management in Chapter 481.303(6)(c) where it states that, "Landscape architecture means professional services, including, but not limited to, the following: The setting of grades, shaping and contouring of land and water forms, determination of drainage, and provision for storm drainage and irrigation systems where such systems are necessary to the purposes outlined herein.”
- The Joint Administrative Procedures Committee upheld the authority of Landscape Architects to practice storm water management in 1990 when they determined that the Board of Landscape Architects could not require additional classes, testing, or training for a Landscape Architect to practice storm water management because according to chapter 481 all Landscape Architects were already authorized to practice in that discipline.
Issue
- Despite Landscape Architects’ unblemished history of designing and permitting stormwater management design systems, the Florida Engineering Society (FES) would like to restrict or eliminate Landscape Architect’s statutory right to prepare design plans for and permit stormwater management systems.
- In 2009 a Joint Stormwater Management System Design Task Force, comprised of an appointee from FLASLA, the Florida Board of Landscape Architecture, FES, the Florida Board of Professional Engineers, Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Department of Transportation, concluded that the current regulatory system is working to protect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Florida, that there are no documented cases of a stormwater management system designed by a landscape architect failing, and that there is no basis for amending the practice acts of Stormwater system design professionals.
- Landscape architects’ university level education includes site planning, grading & drainage design. The curriculum includes ecology, environmental horticulture, biology, botany, and other natural sciences. This comprehensive course of study uniquely qualifies landscape architects to design stormwater systems that work with the land; taking advantage of natural features, soils, plantings and existing vegetation. With this approach, stormwater flow is properly directed and water quality is improved. As the Florida Department of Environmental Protection continues to work on a statewide stormwater rule that stresses the use of natural systems to improve water quality, it would be counter-productive to restrict the very professionals, who by virtue of their education, may be the best prepared.
- In short, there is no reason to make any changes to current law, and specifically no reason to restrict a landscape architect’s ability to permit a stormwater management system.
Request
- Please oppose any legislation or amendments that would restrict or eliminate a landscape architect’s ability to permit a stormwater management system.