Landscape Law Would Save Water and Energy : Environment: The proposed Irvine ordinance that calls for grouping plants with similar needs would exempt single-family homes.

The city that declared war on chlorofluorocarbons has a new enemy: turf grass.

Under a plan that city officials say could help save the environment, lush lawns are out and landscaping is in. The city that seems to put a premium on conformity is now working on an ordinance that would regulate landscaping right down to what types of plants can be grown side by side.

Research has shown that all the mowing, mulching, fertilizing and watering of turf grass is ultimately more harmful to the atmosphere than the benefits derived from the oxygen-producing greenery, city officials say.

The proposed ordinance, yet to be finalized, could apply to new businesses and portions of condominium developments but would exempt single-family residences; public land would also be regulated. City officials say it promises to reduce energy costs, pollution, water use and landfill waste while also cutting back on costs for materials and equipment used to maintain turf grass.

It also calls for grouping together plants that have the same climate, soil and maintenance needs.

Planners say there are simply more water-efficient and environmentally sensitive ways to landscape the city than the way it has been done up to now. For example, to install and maintain just one acre of landscaping each year, Irvine uses four acre-feet of water (1.3 million gallons, equivalent to a year’s supply for eight families of four), applies 250 to 300 pounds of fertilizer and uses 102 gallons of gasoline for mowers to cut grass.

“I think our primary thrust is to say that turf grass does not make good environmental sense in our area,” said Robert Perry, a Cal Poly Pomona professor of landscape architecture who helped write the ordinance.

Perry said that just as people want to keep their cars, they want to keep their lawns. But that might not be the best thing for the environment, he said. “The landscape is just another way of manufacturing pollution,” because of the way we maintain it, Perry said.

The plan, proposed by Councilman Cameron Cosgrove, grew out of a City Council directive last year aimed at water conservation in landscaping. While other areas of California, such as Santa Barbara, have written ordinances concerning landscaping in response to drought conditions, Irvine’s is likely the most comprehensive, city planners believe.

Under the plan, there will be three basic plant groups for ornamental landscapes: subtropical, Mediterranean and temperate.

Bougainvillea, for example, will be clumped with blue dracaena, because they are both subtropical plants. But one would not plant a lavender starflower, a subtropical shrub, next to a weeping willow, a temperate tree, because the starflower prefers warmth and humidity while the willow prefers cold temperatures and moisture.

Some areas along creeks and natural drainage swales will be allowed to remain wild.

“There is great difficulty in directing and maintaining a landscape that is comprised of so many elements. This diversity is not desirable when there is no sensible order to it,” the draft report said. “In fact, a great number of conflicts between plant tolerances and preferences occur. A more logical method of plant organization is to select and combine various species on the basis of climactic and habitat adaptations.”

Landscape designers say they have begun incorporating drought-resistant plants in some of their plans because they need less water and thus are often cheaper to maintain.

“Everybody’s getting on the bandwagon,” said Gus Puertas, who works for the Tustin-based landscape architecture firm Frank Radmacher & Associates. “That dominoes down the line.”

But there are problems finding enough drought-resistant plants because many nurseries don’t carry them. Clients also sometimes have their own ideas about how they want a landscape to look and must be persuaded to explore other options.

“It’s an ongoing challenge,” Jason Umemoto, a landscape designer, said of persuading clients. He added that using drought-resistant plants “doesn’t mean you have to have rocks and cactus.”

But planners for the master-planned city say the ordinance will encourage diversity because so many different kinds of plants can be used and because developers would be encouraged to use something different rather than an old, water-guzzling standby.

“More than likely, you’ll have the ability to put more color into a landscape,” said Tim Kirkham, the city’s landscape architect.

But Perry said that doesn’t mean Irvine necessarily will look all that different.

“We would say that in terms of its character and appearance, it’s going to be very similar . . . ,” Perry said. “We’re not going to have a desert look.”

Mayor Larry Agran added: “The ordinance simply represents a growing sensitivity to the need to landscape in ways consistent with the climate of our region.

“There was some concern, of course, that we somehow would be providing for a barren and brown sort of future for ourselves, which of course is not the case.

“Careful selection of plant species actually provides for a much richer landscaping but at a lesser cost.”

The ordinance, which will be considered by the council next month, would also require that new developments’ landscapes not have more than 25% turf grass; 20% of them must be designed to use composted organic matter, and 40% of paved surfaces within parking lots shall be shaded by “parking lot trees.”

And there are directives about water. New landscapes will not be allowed to use more than two acre-feet of potable water or more than three acre-feet of reclaimed water per acre each year.

“We’ll be able to use less water and still make the landscape look really good,” Kirkham said. “Irvine didn’t hit a crisis point and say ‘Gee whiz, we’re running out of water, let’s enact an ordinance.’ What we’d say is if we haven’t planted grass yet, let’s consider how much we want to plant.”

City planners say if the ordinance is adopted, developers who refuse to comply would not be given permits. They are still trying to decide what enforcement action would be taken against those who refused once their projects were completed.

“It’s kind of an apple pie and motherhood issue,” Kirkham said. “No one wants to achieve an uglier urban environment.”

Like the city’s ordinance clamping down on the manufacture of ozone-eroding CFCs, Irvine planners say the new “Sustainability in Landscaping Ordinance” will be at the forefront of similar plans in other cities.

“This is the new direction that certain communities are going to,” Perry said. “I think Irvine will rise to that challenge.”

But will the community buy it?

“I think they will,” Perry said. “I think that people are becoming more sophisticated” about the way communities can impact the environment.

Times staff writer Maria Newman contributed to this report.