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This is an example of an unfunded mandate brought to you by the beautification committee who might want to impose tile roofs next or fancy manatee mail boxes to improve the Island look.

They seem to have completely overlooked the fact that water conservation should be one of the highest priorities for this Island and should be encouraging folks to find other methods of landscaping rather than sod. This is a huge step backward.

The beautification committee is arguing the conservation benefits of lawn in swales as a filter for stormwater...however, storm water runs into the culverts at relatively the same pace whether over sod or rocks during heavy downpours when the rain pools up a couple of inches. What is there to filter, by the way? Our cul-de-sacs receive so little traffic that the there is no significant build-up of debris and oils. The filter argument is a red herring.

I heard that Bahia grass should be used because then no irrigation system would need to be installed. This is based on the notion that Bahia grass will go dormant in the dry season and come back in the Spring. But in the meantime, it looks terrible and becomes weed infested and will eventually become a weed patch unless fertilizers and weed poisons are added which increases the amount of pollutants running off into the canals.

This is a bad idea. And a wasteful expense forced on unwilling property owners.