Towns with ordinances on the placement of artificial grass in yards are keeping a close eye on a Florida-wide rule currently being drafted.
House Bill 683, which passed the Legislature this year and was signed into law by the governor, requires the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to adopt minimum standards for the installation of synthetic turf on single-family residential areas that are 1 acre or less in size, Gulf Stream Assistant Town Attorney Trey Nazzaro said. Such a rule would cover most of the town, he said.
The concern is that a new rule “could in part preempt the town’s home rule powers to regulate artificial turf,” he told town commissioners at their Aug. 8 meeting.
Synthetic turf in Gulf Stream, for example, can be placed only in back and side yards where it cannot be seen from the road in front or from the water behind.
“The question will be whether or not it prevents us from regulating it from an aesthetic standpoint really,” Nazzaro said. “There’s nothing in the rule that goes one way or the other about percentage or where it can be located.”
— Steve Plunkett
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