Agenda Packets - 2013/02/04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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ii. Landscaping Goal: Use landscaping techniques that minimize the use of resources and increase natural habitat and green space. Objective: Native plants replace turf grass Landscaping is an important element that will lead to a more sustainable future for the City of St. Anthony Village. Landscaping is crucial to the success of St. Anthony as a sustainable community because it can be implemented in large scale and small scale situations. The ultimate goal for sustainable landscaping is to reduce the amount of turf grass in square footage in half by the year 2030. Additionally, the square footage of native plantings in the city will be doubled. This goal pertains to improving the overall environmental sustainability of the city. Reducing turf grass and increasing the amount of native plantings will have many direct environmental benefits including: • Reducing the amount of water needed for watering purposes • Reducing pollution caused by chemical runoff from fertilizers and other chemicals • Improving the water quality by reducing storm water run-off into the sewer system • Reducing CO2 emissions caused by lawnmowers • Increased plant and animal diversity Along with the direct environmental benefits listed above, there are also indirect economic and social benefits that will derive from this change in landscaping. These indirect benefits include: • Economic benefits due to the reduction of maintenance costs that are part of maintaining turf grass lawns (Examples: lawn mowing, watering and sodding/seeding and re -seeding) • Reduction in noise pollution due to less lawn mower use. Strategy: the city will lead by example In order to achieve these goals and aforementioned benefits, there are several action steps suggested for the city to take, both on the public and private levels. On the public level, the city of St. Anthony itself will have a "no -turf' policy for all city run buildings. This policy will not strictly prohibit the use of turf grass in the landscaping of city and public buildings, but will only allow abundant turf grass to be planted in permitted situations. For example, abundant turf grass will still be permitted in sports fields, playgrounds, and schools where it is appropriate and necessary to have grassy areas for recreational uses. On city -run facilities where turf grass is not necessary, an effort will be made to minimize turf -grass landscaping. New buildings will include natural and native plantings as part of the landscaping plan. Existing sites will go through landscaping updates in which turf grass will be replaced with native and natural plantings over a given period of time. Boulevards 110 th 14 t la e 8