Virginia Regulatory Town Hall View Comments

Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation

Board for Professional and Occupational Regulation

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9/24/20 5:20 pm

Commenter: Terry Clements

Support for continued licensure of Landscape Architecture in the Commonwealth

My name is Terry Clements. I live and work in Virginia. I write this comment in STRONG support of the continued licensure of landscape architects and landscape architecture in Virginia.

I am the chair of the Landscape Architecture Program at Virginia Tech as well as a Licensed Landscape Architect. Virginia Tech has a highly ranked program that draws undergraduate and graduate students from around the country and internationally. Our students look forward to practicing their chosen profession in Virginia and will pursue licensure. Please do not undermine the significance of the profession and its work for the students at Virginia Tech and at the University of Virginia.

Removing licensure of landscape architecture would gravely harm Virginia Licensed Landscape Architects, the ability of licensed professionals to practice in areas that they are educated and to maintain a high-quality landscape architecture practice and a presence of landscape architects in Virginia. For example:

– In order to hold a position on a corporate board for a “Professional Corporation,” the employee must be licensed or certified in their profession by the Commonwealth. Eliminating licensure of landscape architecture would prevent landscape architects from serving on the board of architectural-engineering and landscape architecture-only firms.

– RFPs (Request for Proposals) and RFQs (Request for Qualifications) in the Commonwealth of Virginia and for Federal Government Projects that include Landscape Architecture Services require that the Landscape Architects providing these services be licensed. All other states and the District of Columbia have licensure of landscape architects. Eliminating the regulation would bar Virginia landscape architects from competing for these valuable project proposals.

Eliminating licensure for landscape architects would also harm the public in the Commonwealth. This professional license provides the public with knowledge that a minimum set of requirements, including education, experience, and testing, has been met. Landscape architects do complex design and land planning work in large public and code-regulated spaces like national and state parks, waterfronts and flood zones, transportation networks and corridors, urban design and streetscape planning, and multifamily housing developments. They work on complex projects where public health, safety and welfare is implicated. Licensed landscape architects have a knowledge of building codes and standards, environmental protection and conservation codes and statutes, and other laws and regulations that are essential to the safe planning, construction and maintenance of public and private lands.

Landscape Architecture is a regulated profession in all states in the US, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. No jurisdiction has ever deregulated the practice of landscape architecture. Education in landscape architecture is overseen by a national accrediting body ensuring that students receive the scope of education necessary to practice landscape architecture: these include watershed planning and management, site grading and drainage, building codes and standards, construction principles and practices, natural and cultural systems and processes, environmental and site scale evaluation and assessment.

The licensure of landscape architecture is neither restrictive nor protectionist. The title and practice law—enacted during the 2009 Session of the General Assembly — distinguishes the practice of landscape architecture to those areas where they are educated and receive continuing education. Indeed, it protects the citizens of the commonwealth from those that are neither trained nor otherwise qualified to perform the full range of work a licensed landscape architect can undertake.

Thank you!

CommentID: 85923