Steve and Debbie Barbose xeriscaped their front yard. Instead of tearing up their lawn, they used a sustainable practice of laying newspaper over the lawn and then covering that with mulch.
Ryan lely/Sonoma Valley Sun
Over the last several meetings, the Sonoma City Council members have discussed, debated and amended the city’s xeriscape ordinance. That change, which will affect buyers of new single-family residences, has now been approved. So what does it mean?
Sonoma now has an ordinance in place that requires a commercial property or a residential project of more than four units to put in place a low-water landscape plan. According to the existing ordinance, when these new homes get re-landscaped, the subsequent landscaping is also subject to the low-water ordinance.
But there has been an exception for new single-family residences. What has been the case is that new buyers of single-family homes with approved low water or xeriscape landscaping could, upon signing their contract, rip out the landscaping and put in water-guzzling grass. There was no regulation against that, and yet when it happened, the intention of the ordinance–conserving water throughout Sonoma–would be by that factor defeated.
“So I wanted to close that loophole,” said council member Steve Barbose, and how to do that was the debate. In the end, the simple adjustment was made. “So all we did in the recent change was remove the exception for single family residences,” said Barbose. “Now, if someone purchases a new single family home, and decides to re-landscape, that new landscaping must conform to the low-water or xeriscape ordinance.”
This is part of the overall Sonoma sustainability plan. “I want to see us become as water-conserving and sustainable as we can on a community basis,” said Barbose. “This is consistent with that.”
Mayor Joanne Sanders said that really, when it comes to people adjusting to this, we’re not talking about anything onerous. “I’ve been through the process on one of my commercial properties, and it was seamless,” she said. “It’s really not a big deal. Maybe it’s seamless because I want to have a low water system because I don’t want to pay the bill. I didn’t feel any restrictions in terms of plants. I have flowers and grasses and shrubs. This is really easy to live with. The biggest thing is having a drip system. And cutting back on the turf.” Lawn is the cheapest thing for developers to put in, she said, and then the owner bears the cost of maintaining it.
“I’m very protective of property rights,” said Sanders, “and I always want to make sure that we don’t put rules and regulations in place that are going to be infeasible for property owners or business owners. I would never do something I couldn’t walk myself through.” She said the city has a program to give cash support to owners who want to eliminate lawns.
For more information on that program and for xeriscaping in general, turn to page 19.
