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Unintentional Costs — South Street Underpass Planting Plan <br />The plan looks as if this is Louisville's new Xeric Demonstration Garden. While a design may <br />look good on paper, and from photos presented to decision makers of vigorous perennial beds, <br />reality often presents a different outcome. <br />This design is still full of hidden costs to the community for the following reasons: <br />1. The initial cost to buy and plant 100's of perennials. (Perennials can have a replacement <br />cost "buried" in any contractor's cost estimate). <br />2. The initial cost of the man hours to install drip irrigation to 100's of plants. <br />3. The ongoing cost to the City for the tedious maintenance of: <br />a. the drip irrigation <br />b. perennial beds <br />c. replacement of perennials. <br />4. Are large scale perennial beds a standard in wayfinding goals? <br />The architectural design of the underpass is strong in details with many materials and <br />colors. This planting plan does not complement this architecture. Instead it competes with <br />the architecture for attention. These design elements should complement each other if <br />wayfinding is to accomplish the goal of connecting people and place. A simpler plant palette <br />and a mass planting approach might be a more esthetic and cost effective solution. Annual <br />and perennial color beds could be omitted and/or concentrated to key focal points. These <br />key focal points, then, become a visual key of wayfinding. Our city staff is already stretched <br />thin. Extensive perennial beds and drip irrigation is tedious to maintain and this will only add <br />to the burden on this department. <br />A suggested alternative design could curb the above costs as follows: <br />1. Reduce the perennial count and substitute deciduous and evergreen shrubs. This <br />would mean less plant material to buy and plant. <br />2. Fewer plants means less drip irrigation to install. <br />3. Smaller and/or few perennial beds to maintain by our city staff. <br />4. There will be costs associated with replacement (after the contractor's "maintenance <br />period" ends). Given that a percentage of plants will die (on any project) a planting <br />plan with fewer plants will mean there should be less plants to replace. This <br />replacement will be at a cost to our community (or the cost of replacement is "buried" <br />in any contractor's bid). <br />Our public landscape is a key visual aspect of wayfinding. And the South Street project will be <br />an internal gateway and highly visible to both our citizens and visitors. Will perennial beds of this <br />scale be the standard for future projects as these beds relate to our wayfinding systems? If <br />these plant beds deteriorate from lack of maintenance or lack of funds for replacement, then this <br />project (and future projects) will be a huge black eye to our community. We hope our community <br />leaders have the foresight to recognize the (hidden) costs associated with a planting project of <br />this scale. <br />(We) should learn a lesson from the Hwy 36/ McCaslin interchange planting plan not so many <br />years ago. Though not a City project, this interchange is an important gateway to Louisville. This <br />extensive perennial planting was not given the maintenance or replacement efforts and after the <br />8 <br />