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Board recommends striking blanket irrigation requirement; irrigation plans still required when systems proposed
Summary
Flagler Beach planners will remove a blanket code line that required irrigation for all landscaped areas; the board recommended approval as amended, keeping requirements that irrigation plans be submitted when systems are proposed and encouraging future reuse via a purple pipe pilot.
The Planning and Architectural Review Board on April 8 recommended an amendment to the land development code that strikes a provision requiring irrigation for all landscaped areas; the board approved the change as amended and asked staff to draft ordinance language for the City Commission.
Staff said the code currently read as if every landscaped area had to include an irrigation system, even where drought-tolerant or xeriscape plantings would be used. Under the proposed change, the code will no longer require irrigation systems for every landscape area; instead, if a project proposes an irrigation system, the developer must submit an irrigation plan that meets Saint John's regulations and engineering standards.
“We plan to have updated parking lots that we’re working on right now, xeriscape,” Lupita said, explaining that many xeric plantings still require establishment watering for about a year. Staff also noted the city is beginning to install a purple pipe (nonpotable reuse) line on Central Avenue and said future irrigation could be supplied through that system rather than potable water. The change responds to Senate Bill 64 requirements discussed by staff about reducing effluent by 2035 and the city’s unfunded-mandate concerns.
Board members asked whether the change would apply to city-owned public parking lots and whether commercial screening and site-plan enforcement would still ensure required buffers. Staff confirmed the change applies broadly: projects that include water-dependent plantings will still need irrigation plans as part of the landscape review; single-family homes are not required to submit landscape or irrigation plans under existing practice. The board moved and voted to recommend approval of the ordinance with the on-the-fly amendment to strike the irrigation requirement line (“n”).
Public commenters discussed xeriscaping, cisterns, and the need to enforce landscape installation: one resident described installing a 4,500-gallon cistern to capture roof runoff for reuse. Staff and board members emphasized that landscaping must remain viable after installation and would be subject to code enforcement if plantings die from neglect.
The board’s recommendation will be transmitted to the City Commission for ordinance drafting and final action.
