- January 31, 2025
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The city of Ormond Beach is in the process of updating its code to require native plants be included in the landscaping for new developments.
The City Commission unanimously approved an amendment to its Land Development Code that will require native plants make up at least 50% of developments' landscaping at its meeting on Jan. 21, with a second reading set to go before the commission on Feb. 4.
It's a policy direction officially set in motion last June, but one that local environmentalists have been advocating for several years.
"I think we can be a leader to all the other cities in Volusia County, because I think now we are stronger with our LDC for resiliency and using native plants," City Commissioner Lori Tolland said.
Prior to the amendment, the city's LDC required that 50% of replacement trees be native, and that at least 50% of landscape areas be composed of drought-tolerant plants, otherwise known as xeric plants, which are not always native. In June 2024, Tolland — a member of the Garden Club of the Halifax Country who, prior to being an elected official, spearheaded the creation of Vadner Park to be all-native — proposed the landscaping standards be increased to 75% native plants.
And though she brought the proposal to the commission last year, the credit, Tolland said, goes to engaged citizens: Melissa Lammers, of the Halifax River Audubon; Leslie Nixon, of the Pawpaw Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society; Suzanne Scheiber, of Dream Green Volusia; and environmental advocates such as Alan Burton, Pam Novy, Sang Roberson and Ken and Julie Sipes.
"I was trying to marry passion for my garden club with my role as a City Commissioner and what could be my role to make the world a better place," Tolland said. "So I let them use me as their advocate."
Tolland has been a great ally for environmental causes on the City Commission, said Ormond Beach resident Julie Sipes.
"She's very environmentally sensitive and aware of the ecosystems and how important they are to maintain them in their natural native state here in Ormond," Sipes said.
Sipes and her husband were involved in getting the ball rolling, and Tolland along with the other citizens saw it through to the end. It was both gratifying and rewarding, Sipes said, to see the amendment get unanimous support.
"It gives you hope about making change," Sipes said. "We think this is important because our green spaces are dwindling as we're replacing our precious native vegetation that has been here all along. We've been replacing it with unnatural, non-native palm trees and other tings. It's more important than ever to try to be consistent with what is here naturally."
More people in the community, she said, including commissioners, are becoming aware of the importance of preserving the environment.
Lammers said the LDC amendment is a "huge step in the right direction." Putting native plants in landscaping can be very helpful, particularly as people grow increasingly concerned over development and the loss of habitat for local wildlife.
Audubon recommends at least 70% of plantings be native to create a hospitable habitat, but Lammers said she understands that may not be achievable right away.
"We really are thankful to Commissioner Tolland for championing this effort and to the city of Ormond Beach, the City Commission for approving it at the first reading, and for the staff that worked so hard on this," Lammers said.
Lammers, who is also a member Pawpaw Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society, said her hope is that through ordinances like this, people's mindsets will begin to shift, a change that different species will benefit from, from pollinating insects to birds.
"My hope is that we begin to see real Florida as beautiful and not messy," Lammers said. "That we stop thinking of our yards as something that should be curated like our living rooms, and start thinking of our yards as our own park, our own habitat where we can enjoy watching birds and bees and butterflies thrive."
On Sunday, March 8, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Halifax River Audubon will lead a how-to workshop for native gardening titled "Your Yard Matters" at the Anderson-Price Memorial Building, located at 42 N. Beach St. in Ormond Beach.
