NLV planning panel approves turf limits

Diana Sahagun

Thursday, June 15, 2000 | 11:10 a.m.

Water conservation is important, but what about individual homeowner rights?

North Las Vegas Planning Commissioner Tom Langford posed that question to other commissioners Wednesday before casting the lone vote against a controversial turf reduction ordinance.

The approval from the commission falls in line with similar ordinances already approved in the city of Las Vegas and Clark County.

The North Las Vegas City Council must give final approval on the ordinance.

Langford explained that he was not against water conservation, but was against telling homeowners what they can and cannot do with their private property.

'I believe that anyone who buys a house ... if they're spending the money they should be able to put in what they want," he said.

The ordinance, which was pushed by the Southern Nevada Water Authority in an effort to promote water conservation, will only affect new developments and allows just half of a front yard to be landscaped with turf.

The ordinance sparked controversy when passed by the other governments because, among other items, it will also limit golf courses to having an average of 5 acres of grass per hole.

The new ordinance also prohibits turf in public-facility areas except for schools, parks and cemeteries, and limits the use of turf in commercial zones to 25 percent.

The North Las Vegas ordinance has a waiver provision for special situations and an allowance for slightly more turf -- 40 percent -- for multi-family developments instead of 30 percent.

The measure calls for more desert landscaping -- called xeriscaping -- to replace turf. Such desert vegetation requires significantly less water than grass.

Commissioner Harry Shull said he agreed with Langford's concerns, but said he had mixed feelings about the measure.

"It's like watching your mother-in-law drive off a cliff in your new Porche," he said.

Amy Kremenek, a spokesman with the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said that in the first year of the city's turf-restriction ordinance, North Las Vegas will save 36 million gallons of water. In five years the city will have saved 541 million gallons of water, assuming a continuation of the current average of 2,100 new homes built each year, she said.

The water authority has made it a goal to reach 25 percent water conservation by the year 2010.