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Madeira Beach planners review proposed landscaping code changes, including artificial turf rules
Summary
City staff presented proposed amendments to the city's landscaping code that would remove the 25% living ground-cover requirement for single-family lots, create a permitting/acknowledgement process for turf in the right of way, align local rules to recent FDEP guidance, and lower the intersection-visibility low point to 30 inches.
City staff presented a set of proposed amendments to Madeira Beach's landscaping and vegetation code, asking the Planning Commission for input on items that include reducing or removing the 25% living ground-cover requirement for single-family lots, new right-of-way material rules, regulation of artificial turf, intersection-visibility measurement changes, and updates to the city's tree-species lists.
The staff presenter said the current code requires 25% of single-family, duplex and triplex lots to have living ground cover and that the requirement is out of step with recent community preferences and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's guidance on artificial turf. "Based on the feedback that we've received from the community and on our own professional opinions, the 25% living ground cover requirement might be a little too strange and then really necessary," the presenter said.
Among the proposed changes: - Residential lots: permit removal or reduction of the 25% living ground-cover requirement for single-family, duplex and triplex lots while retaining other intensity controls (ISR) in zoning. - Right-of-way materials: introduce an acknowledgement form and recordation option so property owners installing turf or other nonliving material in the right of way understand that if utilities require removal, replacement cost will fall to the property owner unless otherwise agreed. - Artificial turf: align with recent FDEP guidance by permitting turf on single-family lots and requiring permeable turf installations that meet a permeability specification (staff cited a 10-inch-per-hour figure taken from DEP guidance and existing spec sheets); staff said they also studied Clearwater and Holmes Beach ordinances when drafting the proposal. - Intersection visibility: consolidate conflicting code sections and lower the visibility "low point" from 36 inches to 30 inches, placing Madeira Beach in the range used by other municipalities. - Trees: simplify and modernize the permitted/prohibited species lists by referencing Florida-native and drought-tolerant lists and incorporating Pinellas County's prohibited-species list.
Commissioners raised specific questions about how "permanent" surfaces would be defined, whether loose shell/gravel would be considered removable, the 10-foot setback near mean-high-water lines for turf installations, and how enforcement or permit fees might be applied. Staff said mailboxes and similar fixtures are not targeted by the vegetation sections and that the public-works director would retain some discretion to handle case-by-case issues.
Staff said they will revise the draft to reflect attorney Trask's recommended edits and return the ordinance for formal action at a subsequent meeting.
