Installing or replacing landscaping is about to get more complicated and potentially more expensive for some property owners in San Marcos.
The city is developing an ordinance that would require the landscaping around new homes, apartment complexes and other developments to be drought-tolerant ---- if a developer is installing the landscaping, if the landscape area covers at least 2,500 square feet and if the project needs city approval.
The proposal would also apply to new homes whose owners are putting in the landscaping, if the area is 5,000 square feet or larger.
Deputy City Manager Lydia Romero said last week that the city must adopt the proposed ordinance to meet the deadline for a 3-year-old state law requiring cities and counties throughout California to adopt stricter water efficiency standards by Jan. 1.
Romero said state officials did not decide what the new standards should be until September.
"That kind of sprang up at the last minute," Romero said. "So thank you, state Department of Water Resources, for that."
State leaders said the law is designed to ensure there's enough water for California's growing population in the face of ongoing drought conditions.
Romero said the landscape ordinance San Marcos is working on mirrors the state guidelines released in September.
The city's ordinance would require affected property owners to prepare extensive landscape documentation packets and submit them to the city.
Each package would have to include information about the project, a water efficient landscape worksheet, a soil management plan, a landscape design plan, an irrigation design plan, and a grading design plan.
A copy of the worksheet would also go to the water agency that serves the property.
Landscape areas covered by the ordinance also would have to be audited every two years to verify that they meet water-use reduction levels stated in the original design plan.
"It's going to give a lot of landscape architects business," Romero said.
Vallecitos Water District, Vista Irrigation District, Rincon del Diablo Water District, and Olivenhain Water District serve customers in San Marcos.
Vallecitos General Manager Bill Rucker said local officials anticipate that the proposed ordinance will cause major headaches for water and city officials and property owners.
"There are a variety of unknowns, I think, that we're all going to have to get to know as we march arm in arm into the future," he said. "But it's a huge change in what I call practicality."
However, developer Mike McDonald, who has built several construction projects in San Marcos, said he does not view the proposed ordinance as a big deal because newer construction projects typically already incorporate drought-tolerant plants and materials.
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