Council adopts new outdoor watering schedule aligned with Wichita; odd/even three-day plan approved

Park City Council voted Sept. 9 to amend the city’s water-conservation program to align with the City of Wichita’s newly approved permanent outdoor watering schedule. The council authorized staff to draft an ordinance reflecting the change; the motion passed 7-0.

Under the adopted approach, addresses ending in odd numbers may water on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday; even-numbered addresses may water on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. All lawn watering will be prohibited on Mondays and between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on allowed watering days. Well users are exempt; the policy contains specific allowances for newly sodded lawns (21 days) and seeded lawns (30 days) under a variance process the city will administer.

The nut graf: staff recommended mirroring Wichita to keep consistent messaging across wholesale customers and to accommodate ongoing local development and restoration of water levels at Cheney Lake. The council asked staff to design a practical variance process to handle requests for newly sodded or seeded lawns; Wichita advised each wholesale customer to manage the variance procedure locally.

Councilmember Jim Schrader said he liked the change and moved to adopt amendments and have an ordinance drafted for the next meeting; Troy Hill seconded. Staff noted some logistical details—how to validate sod/seed dates and manage variances—remain under development; the city intends to use a combination of inspection, reporting and a simple variance check-in process.