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Mad about mulch

Homeowners in the Highland Park subdivision have front yards full of mulch, but would prefer grass. It's a part of the developer's plans that many find frustrating.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published August 12, 2005

KEYSTONE - When Carrie and Brian Taylor bought into the Highland Park subdivision, they also bought into the Bill Bishop landscaping vision.

Having lived in Westchase, which Bishop developed, the Taylors came to appreciate his use of vegetation and trees to enhance the property. They expected nothing less of his new development on Race Track Road, which touts itself as "a better place."

But the developer's requirement of Florida-friendly front yards - read that to mean no grass, lots of mulch and native plants - has the Taylors and many of their neighbors upset, especially when the rain washes the mulch into the streets.

"I did not pay this much for a house to have a bare front yard with (irrigation) tubing showing," Carrie Taylor said. "I'd prefer grass, but if I can't have grass, something that's more aesthetically pleasing than this."

Bishop could not be reached for comment. But company representative Mona Lashley made clear that the developer did not want a community filled with turf grass. Once the native vegetation fills in, she said, it will be beautiful and also lower-maintenance than grass.

Many neighbors bought into the community, which is still under construction, before all the deed restrictions were written, though. Others knew about the landscape plans but saw them in writing, not in the ground.

"Many purchasers weren't all that ecstatic about the way Bill planned the landscaping," said Ryan Lund, who has organized a homeowners advisory committee but says he's neutral on the landscaping issue. "People are moving in and experiencing it now, rather than just seeing it on paper."

So they're grumbling.

Several have written their complaints and concerns on the neighborhood's popular Internet bulletin board. They don't like that the chosen mulch - dark pine bark - floats away, or that it becomes a home for bugs. Some are upset with their "sickly looking" plants.

Driving much of the discontent is one neighbor's decision pull out the plumbago, liriope and hawthorn in favor of a lush lawn. That homeowner, who claims he didn't know the rules, has been reprimanded and will have to replace the native landscaping, according to the developer's office.

But what he has done is make people see what they could have now, instead of waiting for plants to grow in and meanwhile enduring the pools of water on dirt when the mulch washes away.

So far, Bishop's company has stuck to its primary plan of a community that doesn't rely on heavy irrigation and chemicals for large lawns. In an e-mail to at least one resident, though, it has inched away from its firm "no grass" position - 12 inches, that is.

"We have decided to allow the homeowner to put a 1-foot strip of Bahia sod along the curb adjacent to the street only to address the mulch washout problem. If you'd like to do the same on your property you are more than welcome to do so," Lashley wrote.

Neighbors don't expect much more. As Lund pointed out, Bishop isn't having much trouble selling homes with the current landscaping plan.

"If he changed something every time someone raised their hands, he'd be changing something every day," Lund said.

Some have said they will wait until the homeowners association is controlled by neighbors instead of the developer, and then they'll push for a rule change to let there be grass.

The dispute mirrors an issue that forced lawmakers to rewrite homeowners association laws just four years ago. Florida was suffering its worst drought in decades, and many homeowners were complaining that their associations were forcing them to replace dead grass with new even though the government barred adequate watering.

So Sara Romeo, who represented northwest Hillsborough County in the state House at the time, pushed a bill that stopped all associations created after Oct. 1, 2001, from prohibiting xeriscaping.

While she praised Highland Park for supporting environmentally friendly yards, Romeo said she was disturbed to hear that neighbors were forced to pick lantana over lawn. It should be a choice, she suggested, and if the developer educates buyers well, the results likely would be the same.

"This is a long-term solution and a savings of our resources," Romeo said. "We have to be conservative, not just when it doesn't rain, but all the time."

For her own part, Taylor said the Highland Park mulch vs. grass debate is a small one. She says she loves her house, her property, her neighbors, her location, and just about everything else Highland Park offers.

"There are just a few little things that we wish we the homeowners had control over," she said. Bishop "is not the one living in the mulch. ... His vision is our reality, and he needs to keep that in mind."

- Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at 813 269-5304 or solochek@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 11, 2005, 08:56:11]