Advertisement

Park City man upset by homeowners association control over grass

July 28, 2010|By Kim Hynes | KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

(PARK CITY, Kan.) — Where you live dictates the way your yard looks. Homeowners associations have several requirements, including what kind of grass to plant. But a Park City man says in order to save water, those rules need to change. He took his concerns to the Sedgwick County Commission Wednesday.

With the sun burning bright this time of year, it can be a challenge to keep your grass bright.  "Homeowners associations want all the yards to look alike. They want them all nice and green," said Tim Null.  Null likes green grass like the next guy, but he thinks it's wasteful that he's required to have fescue grass. "To me we have to start being more aware of our water issues," he said.

Null says it takes too much water to keep fescue looking good. He wanted to plant buffalo grass. "It's a low maintenance type of grass with less chemicals and a lot less water." But his homeowners association wouldn't allow him to plant the buffalo grass. "I'm not a tree hugger by any means, this is just a matter of common sense," he said.

Advertisement

He says if homeowners associations gave people options to plant different grass, there would be a lot less run off and wasted water. "There's water by the gallons running down the drain," he said.  To try and reduce runoff, he's asking for help from elected officials. "I would like to see the homeowners associations not be able to mandate you plant fescue and that's what they're mandating now. If people want to plant buffalo grass, they should be allowed to," he said.

County commissioner Kelly Parks says he's willing to work with Null on the issue. He's also supposed to meet with Park City officials. Null says a change wouldn't benefit his grass. He's already spent $5,000 planting fescue and putting in a sprinkler system. But he says the change would be good for the water supply which will eventually benefit everyone.

Last year, the City of Hays started a turf conservation program to save water. If a homeowner has fescue and wants to switch to buffalo grass, the city will provide the seed for free. Since the start, only one homeowner has qualified. A city official says you have to prove you're tearing up fescue and not just planting over weeds.

kwch Articles
|
|
|