Pennsylvania Stormwater Rules Restrict Landscape Architecture Practice
State official claims landscape architects not qualified to seal stormwater plans

Recently, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) enacted new stormwater management provisions, including Best Management Practices (BMPs) such as vegetated swales, biofilters, and the like. Along with the regulations, DEP is holding a series of training sessions and has told attendees that the new stormwater management plans can only be sealed by an engineer, including these BMPs that are clearly within the scope of landscape architecture (and identified in the definition of landscape architecture in the licensing law).

The Pennsylvania/Delaware chapter wrote a letter of concern to DEP Secretary Kathy McGinty, explaining that the practice of landscape architecture is defined within state law to include “the setting of grades and determining drainage and providing for stormwater management and determination of environmental impacts and problems of land including erosion, sedimentation, blight, and other hazards.” Secretary McGinty’s response was contradictory at best. While claiming that “[o]nly the boards under the registration acts for engineers and landscape architects can officially make determinations on what is and is not included in the practice of the professions,” the letter also set out specific practice areas appropriate for landscape architects:

Our current assessment is that qualified Professional Landscape Architects are authorized to perform shaping and contouring of the land, setting of grades, and determination of drainage related to stormwater management and determination of the environmental impacts of erosion and sediment. They may seal stormwater permit application or Notice of Intent plans, calculations, and specifications for nonstructural, and the following structural practices identified in the Stormwater Best Management Practice (BMP) Manual where hydrologic design is not required: Vegetated Swales, Vegetated Filter Strips, Infiltration Berms & Retentive Grading, Riparian Buffer Restoration, Landscape Restoration, Soil Amendment & Restoration, and Floodplain Restoration.

The letter also states that engineers may stamp plans for any and all of these areas, too.

The chapter is actively addressing this challenge to the practice of landscape architecture. As a follow-up to the secretary’s letter, the chapter has written to the State Board of Landscape Architects requesting a clear determination regarding the role of landscape architects in the provision of these services.

If you’d like more information on this important issue, contact Pennsylvania/Delaware Trustee Carl Kelemen, FASLA.

Julia Lent is the director of government affairs. Contact her at jlent@asla.org or phone 202-216-2330.