Serrano Park Community Updated December 9, 2022
The Serrano Park HOA is required to stop irrigating certain turf areas as part of the California State “Second Water Conservation Emergency Regulation of 2022 (May/June 2022)”. This is expected to create 4.5 acres of dead turf, and because of the continuing severe drought conditions, replanting the turf in these areas at some later time will probably not be allowed nor would it be affordable.
• We have been instructed to stop irrigating the turf in certain areas. This is expected to be a permanent mandate.
• We must use available rebate funds to upgrade these areas to non-turf before they are allowed to degrade to dirt and weeds, or lose the turf replacement rebate.
The Landscape Committee has proposed that the solution is upgrading specific turf areas to a more environmentally friendly landscape replacing the sprinkler irrigated turf with low-water, low-maintenance plants and drip irrigation, funded with available rebates. Currently, the applicable rebates and limits are:
Turf Removal: (Limits are per water meter – we have 15 supplying irrigation to our HOA)
- 1 project per fiscal year (July 1 – June 30), 50,000 sq-ft max
- Minimum 250 sq-ft per project
- $5.00 / sq-ft
Sprinkler to Drip: (Limits are per water meter – we have 15 supplying irrigation to our HOA)
- 1 project per fiscal year (July 1 – June 30), 45,000 sq-ft max
- Minimum 250 sq-ft per project
- $.80 / sq-ft
To minimize risk, we can execute a few small projects at a time, grouped by water meter. We will prioritize these based on impact and ease of Board approvals.
Tree-less Parkways
Priority will be given to tree-less parkways. These areas are prone to runoff and therefore excessive water usage. They are high on the State’s list of areas to be banned from irrigating during a drought. These areas also have a minimum of old tree roots to deal with. It is a simple matter to remove the turf, reduce the grade to 3″ below the sidewalk and curb for water retention, and add drip irrigation, plants and mulch. The mulch should be maintained to mound slightly above concrete level.
Small Tree-less Turf Patches
The next priority for the current year, will be small tree-less turf patches. These are easy to plan and convert without much controversy. We have selected some small areas near the Clubhouse as our first project as a demonstration area.
Large Area Projects
Large area projects such as the Abeto Park Project, will be delayed until the small, simpler, zero-cost projects are completed. These large projects are difficult to plan with constantly changing rebate rules at a near-zero cost. We hope to revisit the Abeto Park Project in late 2023.
Turf Reduction Projects, 2022-2023
| Area | sq-ft | Cost | Rebate | Net | Approved | Completed |
| 1 & 15 | 4,700 | $27,260 | $27,260 | $0 | Planned | |
| 2 | 1,200 | $6,960 | $6,960 | $0 | ||
| 3 | 16,603 | $96,297 | $96,297 | $0 | Revising | |
| 4 | 600 | $3,480 | $3,480 | $0 | ||
| 5 | 630 | $3,654 | $3,654 | $0 | ||
| 6 | 2,600 | $15,080 | $15,080 | $0 | ||
| 7 | 1,300 | $7,540 | $7,540 | $0 | ||
| 8 | 800 | $4,640 | $4,640 | $0 | ||
| 9 | 320 | $1,856 | $1,856 | $0 | ||
| 10 | 1,700 | $9,860 | $9,860 | $0 | ||
| 11 | 260 | $1,508 | $1,508 | $0 | ||
| 12 | 2,400 | $13,920 | $13,920 | $0 | ||
| 13 | 1,200 | $6,960 | $6,960 | $0 | ||
| 14 | 2,400 | $13,920 | $13,920 | $0 | Exempt | |
| Total | 34,038 | $197,420 | $197,420 | $0 |