SPANISH FORT, Ala.—The Planning Commission will soon set a series of special work sessions to focus specifically on the city’s landscaping and tree ordinance as well as the longer-term comprehensive plan.

“We’ve just got so much going on at the moment, we need to sit down and talk about these issues in greater detail than we’ve been able to,” Building Official Bruce Renkert said.

Renkert also said the commission will solicit guidance from area landscape experts in moving forward with the tree ordinance.

Troy Strunk with Gulf Shores-based WAS Design and Chris Francis, a certified arborist with Chris Francis Landscapes in Daphne, have both offered to advise city officials in this earliest stage of the process.

“Spanish Fort is trying to improve its (tree) ordinance, and we are willing to help them in any way they see fit,” Strunk said.

Francis, who was not immediately available for comment, offered his services formally to the City Council during the public participation portion of the April 6 meeting.

Strunk said his firm has offered gratis consulting services already to the cities of Orange Beach, Gulf Shores and Daphne because as landscape architects he and his partners, Chad Watkins and Jared Acy, feel an obligation to “look out for the betterment of the community.”

“We live in a beautiful place, and we want to see it—and its neighbors—grow and remain beautiful,” Strunk said.

And because the issue is a passionate one for so many local residents, Strunk said his firm is careful to balance criticism and positive feedback when addressing the adoption of an ordinance.

“We’re trying to do what we can to make our communities better, and in our case that means providing some professional services to an area that has lacked them in the past,” he said.