PALMDALE – The City Council on Wednesday approved two amendments to the municipal code updating landscaping requirements for single family residences.
The first amendment took away the requirement to comply with the city’s Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance when a property owner is attempting to remove a Declaration of Substandard from a delinquent property. Instead, single family residences must adhere to the new zoning requirements of front yard landscaping standards that are outlined in the second amendment.
“The idea is that there will be no permit required by the homeowner, there will be no fee involved, there will be no inspection,” Senior Planner Susan Koleda said in her report to the council. “We’re trying to make the standards very simple, but that will provide a certain level of aesthetics that will enhance our neighborhoods.”
Both amendments were approved 4-0, with Councilman Steven D. Hofbauer absent.
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During a discussion of the proposed amendments, Councilwoman Laura Bettencourt voiced her opposition to requiring home owners to put in trees.
“Trees are a lifetime maintenance, and they can be very expensive to maintain, trim and cut back,” Bettencourt said. “It’s not something people can do themselves – they have to hire it out a lot … I just don’t think we should be requiring (home owners) to put trees in.”
Councilman Mike Dispenza said the purpose for the proposed amendments “is a legitimate one” to increase the quality of life. “But I think that by far the people who will be most impacted and encouraged to make some adjustments are rental property owners who seem to have little interest in aesthetics,” Dispenza said.
Mayor James C. Ledford, Jr., said he was happy to find a solution to addressing delinquent property complaints, and that the proposed amendments were “a way of rebuilding our city.”
“Here’s my biggest complaint – dead yards, driving my (property) value down,” Ledford said. “They get cited by code enforcement – this is the old way. And they would just come out and put a dump-load of rocks on their weeds. And that was it. And we had no way to put that in check.”
Before adopting the amendments, Ledford told the council they would come back with a discussion on the tree issue at a later meeting.
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According to the staff report, the amendments address “complaints regarding residential front yards that meet the requirements of the (May 2001) ordinance but fail to enhance the quality of residential neighborhoods.”
The city’s Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance from 2001 “required the installation of street trees and prohibited dirt yards but did not regulate a minimum coverage of live plant material,” the report stated.
Also, the ordinance encouraged the use of water efficient landscape but did not prohibit the use of turf, leading to complaints of front yards that “have been cemented or paved over and yards that are covered in rock mulch and contain a street tree but no other live plant material,” according to the report.
According to the approved amendment, single family residential (front and street side) yards must include “one street tree installed per street frontage; corner lots shall have one tree planted in the front yard parkway and two trees planted in the side yard parkway, for a total of three trees,” and “a minimum of one shrub of any container size per 50 square feet of landscape area, excluding the driveway, shall be provided.”
