Landscape design in Westbrook, Maine.
A design for a Westbrook property starts with where it sits on the zoning map, because the city's districts behave very differently. A lot in the City Center or Residential Growth Area 1 can be 5,000 square feet with a 15-foot front setback. Growth Area 2 lots need 10,000 square feet with public sewer and 20,000 without. The Rural District, mostly west of the Bridgton Road corridor, starts at 60,000 square feet. Each carries its own cap on impervious surface and its own landscape factor.
That is why patios, walls, grading, drainage and plantings get drawn together here. A terrace sized without the impervious limit in mind, or a drainage swale aimed at a neighbor, becomes a redesign later. We walk the site, draw the plan and build it with our own crews so the pieces fit on paper before they are built.
Rural edges with constraints built in
The Comprehensive Plan lists the environmental constraints common on Westbrook's remaining rural land: steep slopes, prime and secondary agricultural soils, high water table, upland wetlands and shallow-to-bedrock soils. Any one of those changes a design. Ledge near the surface limits how deep a patio base or a planting pit can go; a high water table argues for raised beds and swales instead of buried drainage.
The city's development review also consults the state's Beginning with Habitat maps, and the plan notes deer wintering areas among the resources on large undeveloped tracts. Plans for bigger northern parcels keep that in view when deciding what to clear and what to leave standing.
Designing toward the water, not onto it
The southern end of Highland Lake lies in Westbrook, and the Comprehensive Plan records that the lake came off the state's impaired list in 2010 after years of watershed work by the Highland Lake Association. The Westbrook shore is a handful of very low-density parcels, but every one drains to a lake that took a decade to recover.
For properties anywhere in the Highland Lake, Mill Brook or Stroudwater watersheds, a design routes roof and driveway water into planted areas and gravel infiltration, keeps lawn areas back from the water, and specifies fertilizer only after a soil test. Those choices cost little on paper and are hard to retrofit.
Downtown, the constraint is the reverse: a City Center lot can have no minimum size and no setbacks at all, so a design there is about screening, circulation and a small, well-built outdoor room rather than about acreage.
Design · Planning · Full Installs
How we handle landscape design
We design landscapes that work as a whole — plantings, patios, walls, grading and drainage planned together before the first shovel breaks ground. Whether it is a full property redesign or a single outdoor living space, we walk the site, draw the plan and build it with our own crews.
See the full landscape design service page or everything we do in Westbrook, Maine.
Landscape Design in nearby towns
- Landscape Design in Gorham
- Landscape Design in Portland
- Landscape Design in South Portland
- Landscape Design in Scarborough
- Landscape Design in Falmouth
More services in Westbrook
- Hardscaping in Westbrook
- Retaining Walls in Westbrook
- Landscaping in Westbrook
- Planting & Garden Beds in Westbrook
- Hydroseeding, Sod & Turf in Westbrook
- Lawn Aeration & Overseeding in Westbrook
- Fall Cleanup & Leaf Removal in Westbrook
- Commercial Mowing & Cleanups in Westbrook
- Excavation & Land Clearing in Westbrook
- Septic Systems in Westbrook
- Tree & Shrub Services in Westbrook
- Tree Removal in Westbrook
Sources for the local facts on this page
Free Estimates
Landscape Design in Westbrook? Let's talk.
Tell us about your property and we will walk it with you — free estimates, straight answers, stonework guaranteed to hold its lines.
Mon–Sat 7:00am – 5:00pm · Based in Cumberland, Maine