U.S. Water News Online
DENVER -- New subdivisions in Denver won't be able to require Kentucky bluegrass landscaping or ban the water-saving xeriscape concept, according to a proposed law.
City Councilwoman Susan Barnes-Gelt has pushed for nearly three years to address neighborhood covenants that require homeowners to install turf. Denver officials want more homeowners to consider xeriscaping, a landscape technique that includes plants which require less water but sometimes are viewed as weeds by neighbors.
"Especially in a year where we are facing drought, it makes sense," Gelt said.
City officials are unsure how many covenants require grass, although the review was prompted by restrictions in Grant Ranch and a complaint by neighbors in northwest Denver.
"Neighbors called and complained about a homeowner who had xeriscaped her yard," Barnes-Gelt said of the dispute in northwest Denver issue a few years ago. "While they didn't like the plants in her yard, a neighbor down the block had an entire yard of concrete."
Grant Ranch in southwest Denver now allows xeriscaping only after plans are reviewed and accepted. New subdivisions at Lowry and Stapleton also will allow xeriscape, but the new law will hit smaller neighborhoods and those that don't have covenants established, officials said.
Barnes-Gelt would like to outlaw all covenants that require grass. However, assistant city attorney Patrick Wheeler warned council members they can't overrule covenants already in place but can restrict new subdivisions.
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