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HRCA relaxes lawn care covenants to accomodate water restrictions
Two agencies control the aesthetics of turf in Highlands Ranch: the Metro Districts and the Highlands Ranch Community Association. Grass in parks and along community streets falls under the jurisdiction of the Metro Districts. Making sure residents keep the lawns of Highlands Ranch looking beautiful is the domain of HRCA covenants.
But this year there is the threat of a major drought, which begs the question, how will the Metro Districts and the HRCA maintain the beauty of Highlands Ranch without sacrificing precious water?
Both agencies agree that grass in our community this summer will be much browner than usual, because everyone has been asked to reduce water use by 20 percent and residents will only be allowed to use outdoor water every third day. However, the HRCA is quick to point out that this does not mean residents may let their lawns turn completely brown and die. A written statement by the community association states, "The HRCA encourages property owners to conserve water through established and proven water conservation techniques.
By By: Tamra Monahan
Two agencies control the aesthetics of turf in Highlands Ranch: the Metro Districts and the Highlands Ranch Community Association. Grass in parks and along community streets falls under the jurisdiction of the Metro Districts. Making sure residents keep the lawns of Highlands Ranch looking beautiful is the domain of HRCA covenants.
But this year there is the threat of a major drought, which begs the question, how will the Metro Districts and the HRCA maintain the beauty of Highlands Ranch without sacrificing precious water?
Both agencies agree that grass in our community this summer will be much browner than usual, because everyone has been asked to reduce water use by 20 percent and residents will only be allowed to use outdoor water every third day. However, the HRCA is quick to point out that this does not mean residents may let their lawns turn completely brown and die. A written statement by the community association states, "The HRCA encourages property owners to conserve water through established and proven water conservation techniques. However, property owners are required to maintain their landscaping. A stressed lawn during times of drought is acceptable, but dead and dying lawns still require maintenance."
Community Manager Gary Debus said covenants regarding landscaping will be relaxed this summer because of watering restrictions, but the rules cannot be ignored. The 90-day requirement for installation of landscaping for new homeowners has been temporarily suspended for properties that closed after March 1, 2002. These homeowners have until September 15, 2002 to put in landscaping.
However, all other homeowners must water their lawns enough to keep them alive with some browning in places. Drought-ridden lawns with some brown areas will not receive a letter of violation, but lawns allowed to die will be in violation of HRCA covenants.
But covenants and homeowners' interpretations of acceptable lawns may conflict during this drought. In May, some residents complained that they were complying with drought conditions by cutting back on watering their lawns and their efforts received a warning letter from the HRCA about non-compliance with community covenants governing lawn maintenance.
According to Debus, during the third week of May the HRCA issued 600 letters to homeowners who were out of compliance with their lawns, but these were for properties that had not been watered at all yet this year and the lawns were basically dead.
"We're stressing that you don't have to have an absolutely lush lawn in order to comply with our association guidelines," he said. "Drought stressed lawns are OK, and our association has relaxed those standards. Dead and dying lawns are probably not OK yet."
At a recent HRCA meeting, Centennial Water and Sanitation District Manager John Hendrick warned delegates that unless everyone pitches in and cuts back on the amount of water they use, water restrictions could get tougher as the hot, dry summer drags on. People must learn to live with less than perfect lawns this summer.
"This is a drought," Hendrick told the HRCA delegates. "This is not a situation where homeowners can say, 'Yeah, but I still want my lawn green.' You may want it green, but wants have to give way to needs here at this point. We anticipate some browning of lawns, but frankly, we don't have a choice folks. You will see brown along the arterials and on the lawns, but you'll see this in other communities as well, and if you really want to see brown, go check out the farmers' fields near Greeley."
The Metro Districts Parks and Open Space staff is facing some of the same dilemmas with grass areas in parks, athletic fields and along roadways. The HRMD's drought response plan states that overall water use will be cut back at least 20 percent, except on high-traffic areas in parks and athletic fields.
Tom Hoby, director of parks and opens space, said athletic fields and high traffic areas must have the same level of watering because if the grass is allowed to brown and be used by the public at the same time, the turf will suffer severe damage and will need to be replaced next year. According to Hoby, the bottom line is preserving existing amenities despite drought conditions.
"The reason we selected this strategy is, once you introduce foot traffic in turf areas, you're going to put that grass into a whole different level of stress, and you stand a very good chance of losing it if you don't irrigate it at a normal rate," Hoby said. "It would take us awhile to recover from that, and the other choice is to cancel a lot of youth sports programs that we have over the course of the summer... Part of the strategy here is to protect the assets we have. If people are going to use sports fields, we've got to protect that asset or we're going to lose it."
The Metro Districts staff projected it would use about 340 million gallons of water to irrigate the 410 acres of HRMD turf across the community. However, Hoby is hopeful that cutting back this year will save about 68 million gallons of water, but he said this means browner parkways and passive areas in parks. Just like lawns across the community, parks and parkways are not going to be as green as past years.
Drought strategies will also include quick response to repair water leaks, assigning personnel to water trees and protect current landscaped assets, maintain the neatness of areas by edging and cleaning and convert Redstone Park to reuse water. In addition, tree well diameters and mulch depths will be increased to retain moisture and mowing height on parkways will be raised to four inches.
For more information about water conservation, go to www.watersaver.org.
Both agencies agree that grass in our community this summer will be much browner than usual, because everyone has been asked to reduce water use by 20 percent and residents will only be allowed to use outdoor water every third day. However, the HRCA is quick to point out that this does not mean residents may let their lawns turn completely brown and die. A written statement by the community association states, "The HRCA encourages property owners to conserve water through established and proven water conservation techniques.
By By: Tamra Monahan
Two agencies control the aesthetics of turf in Highlands Ranch: the Metro Districts and the Highlands Ranch Community Association. Grass in parks and along community streets falls under the jurisdiction of the Metro Districts. Making sure residents keep the lawns of Highlands Ranch looking beautiful is the domain of HRCA covenants.
But this year there is the threat of a major drought, which begs the question, how will the Metro Districts and the HRCA maintain the beauty of Highlands Ranch without sacrificing precious water?
Both agencies agree that grass in our community this summer will be much browner than usual, because everyone has been asked to reduce water use by 20 percent and residents will only be allowed to use outdoor water every third day. However, the HRCA is quick to point out that this does not mean residents may let their lawns turn completely brown and die. A written statement by the community association states, "The HRCA encourages property owners to conserve water through established and proven water conservation techniques. However, property owners are required to maintain their landscaping. A stressed lawn during times of drought is acceptable, but dead and dying lawns still require maintenance."
Community Manager Gary Debus said covenants regarding landscaping will be relaxed this summer because of watering restrictions, but the rules cannot be ignored. The 90-day requirement for installation of landscaping for new homeowners has been temporarily suspended for properties that closed after March 1, 2002. These homeowners have until September 15, 2002 to put in landscaping.
However, all other homeowners must water their lawns enough to keep them alive with some browning in places. Drought-ridden lawns with some brown areas will not receive a letter of violation, but lawns allowed to die will be in violation of HRCA covenants.
But covenants and homeowners' interpretations of acceptable lawns may conflict during this drought. In May, some residents complained that they were complying with drought conditions by cutting back on watering their lawns and their efforts received a warning letter from the HRCA about non-compliance with community covenants governing lawn maintenance.
According to Debus, during the third week of May the HRCA issued 600 letters to homeowners who were out of compliance with their lawns, but these were for properties that had not been watered at all yet this year and the lawns were basically dead.
"We're stressing that you don't have to have an absolutely lush lawn in order to comply with our association guidelines," he said. "Drought stressed lawns are OK, and our association has relaxed those standards. Dead and dying lawns are probably not OK yet."
At a recent HRCA meeting, Centennial Water and Sanitation District Manager John Hendrick warned delegates that unless everyone pitches in and cuts back on the amount of water they use, water restrictions could get tougher as the hot, dry summer drags on. People must learn to live with less than perfect lawns this summer.
"This is a drought," Hendrick told the HRCA delegates. "This is not a situation where homeowners can say, 'Yeah, but I still want my lawn green.' You may want it green, but wants have to give way to needs here at this point. We anticipate some browning of lawns, but frankly, we don't have a choice folks. You will see brown along the arterials and on the lawns, but you'll see this in other communities as well, and if you really want to see brown, go check out the farmers' fields near Greeley."
The Metro Districts Parks and Open Space staff is facing some of the same dilemmas with grass areas in parks, athletic fields and along roadways. The HRMD's drought response plan states that overall water use will be cut back at least 20 percent, except on high-traffic areas in parks and athletic fields.
Tom Hoby, director of parks and opens space, said athletic fields and high traffic areas must have the same level of watering because if the grass is allowed to brown and be used by the public at the same time, the turf will suffer severe damage and will need to be replaced next year. According to Hoby, the bottom line is preserving existing amenities despite drought conditions.
"The reason we selected this strategy is, once you introduce foot traffic in turf areas, you're going to put that grass into a whole different level of stress, and you stand a very good chance of losing it if you don't irrigate it at a normal rate," Hoby said. "It would take us awhile to recover from that, and the other choice is to cancel a lot of youth sports programs that we have over the course of the summer... Part of the strategy here is to protect the assets we have. If people are going to use sports fields, we've got to protect that asset or we're going to lose it."
The Metro Districts staff projected it would use about 340 million gallons of water to irrigate the 410 acres of HRMD turf across the community. However, Hoby is hopeful that cutting back this year will save about 68 million gallons of water, but he said this means browner parkways and passive areas in parks. Just like lawns across the community, parks and parkways are not going to be as green as past years.
Drought strategies will also include quick response to repair water leaks, assigning personnel to water trees and protect current landscaped assets, maintain the neatness of areas by edging and cleaning and convert Redstone Park to reuse water. In addition, tree well diameters and mulch depths will be increased to retain moisture and mowing height on parkways will be raised to four inches.
For more information about water conservation, go to www.watersaver.org.
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