Mississippi Administrative Code
Title 22 - MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF MARINE RESOURCES
Part 23 - RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE COASTAL WETLANDS PROTECTION LAW AND THE MISSISSIPPI COASTAL PROGRAM
Chapter 10 - Guidelines for the Preservation of Natural Scenic Qualities
Section 22-23-10-106

Guidelines for General Landscaping - Natural vegetation should be preserved wherever practicable. It is the intent of this guideline to require the deliberate consideration of preserving natural vegetation through good design. Landscaping should be used to enhance, not replace, natural scenic qualities. Living plant materials should be used to harmonize structures with the landscape. Unsightly facilities should be masked with foreground plantings to be made less readily visible from the shore or water. Earth berms, mounds and other topographic modifications should be used to mask unsightly structures; where this would blend with the surrounding terrain. Where hilly or rolling topography occurs naturally, earth forming should be used to enclose and conceal utilitarian structures and facilities. Plantings should be used to stabilize shoreline erosion and to screen development along roads and other access routes. Species, planting patterns, massing, and plant heights should be compatible with the structural masses they are intended to disguise or enhance. Thinning of trees is preferable to clear cutting. Natural shrubbery and trees such as live oaks should be preserved when practicable, and where removed, replaced with other vegetation equally effective with respect to natural scenic qualities. Special consideration should be given in the design of new developments for maintenance, care and long range health of the natural vegetation. Cluster and planned unit developments should be encouraged to ensure preservation of natural scenic qualities. These developments should be guided by long range plans that integrate the public natural areas in different developments to form a continuous public system of open space. Planting of mature plant specimens should be done in urban fringe areas to maintain vegetative continuity. Tree preservation ordinances, sign ordinances, and minimum landscape ordinances for commercial structures should be adopted for urban and semi urban areas.