Contractors in California Fight Proposed Landscaping Restrictions

“I'll fight this with every fiber of my body.” That was the reaction of Forrest Connolly, owner of Village Nursery in Rimforest, Calif., to a proposed ordinance by the Lake Arrowhead Community Services District. That ordinance would severely restrict landscaping, which, the mountain landscaping community agrees, would mean the loss of hundreds of jobs.

“We have been advocates for water conservation,” noted Zan Zak, owner of Mountain View Landscaping. “We're not in business to arbitrarily put grass everywhere.”

In fact, the landscapers say in the past they have been consulted by LACSD prior to any water conservation measures being put into effect. LACSD has looked for input from the green industry, Zak said. “We want to be part of the solution and not be made a scapegoat for the problem,” he said.

“But the landscapers were bypassed. They never came to us to draw from our vast years of experience,” Zak added. “We're not fly-by-night guys working out of pickup trucks with shovels and blowers in the back.” He noted the landscapers understand the problem and want to help save water.

“This is a wonderful community,” Connolly said. “We've worked together in the past. These are lousy tactics. I don't think the LACSD board understands the ramifications of this ordinance.”

“We've had an ongoing relationship with LACSD for the past 15 years,” Zak said. And Bernie Kerkvliet, owner of Skyline Ponds, added, “Zak, Forrest and I go way back with them. We've been like the Three Musketeers.”

The landscapers would like the LACSD board to stop and consider the economic implications of the proposed ordinance. “We won't be the only ones losing,” Zak said. Should the ordinance pass as currently drafted, the landscapers all agree they will have to lay off workers, workers who support local businesses.

“It won't be a ripple effect,” Zak said. “It will be more like a tsunami.”

Proposed Solutions

The landscaping community sees a number of measures that could be taken to reduce the amount of water used by district ratepayers. “I've been begging for a cash-for-grass program,” Connolly said. And Zak added he has been offering his own program for the past year and a half. “Why hasn't the water company implemented this program to help the top users cut their usage?” Zak asked.

As the landscapers brainstormed about other possibilities, they threw out the idea of recirculating water, which results in instant hot water. “That should be mandatory in new homes,” Connolly said.

“What about gray water?” was John Stehmeir's question. He owns Mountain Ponds and feels he faces losing his business if the proposed ordinance passes as it bans the installation of ponds and fountains.

A pond, Stehmeir noted, uses 75 percent less water than turf. “It's even less than that with a pondless water feature,” Kerkvliet said, “because there's far less evaporation.”

In the past, Stehmeir said, even in times of extreme drought water features were allowed because they use so much less water, and the water they do use recirculates.

The landscapers wonder why LACSD doesn't draw more CLAWA (Crestline-Lake Arrowhead Water Agency) water in the winter months when the CLAWA system isn't so heavily taxed. “They could bank this water because it's purchased,” Zak said. The feeling is the water from Lake Arrowhead should be reserved for the summer months when CLAWA has already said it is unlikely they will be able to supply any water to LACSD.

Zak and the others feel LACSD needs to come up with mandatory landscaping standards. “Tell us how many square feet we can landscape,” he said. “We don't need to put sprinklers on the whole lot. It's possible to maintain the aesthetics, erosion control and fire safety aspects of landscaping without using a tremendous amount of water.”

LACSD needs to help their top users reduce their water consumption, the landscapers agreed. Have them retrofit their sprinkler systems with low volume heads. In Las Vegas, Zak said, they keep a list of certified water efficiency landscapers. Why not create the same thing here? “I'll go to classes to get certified,” he said.

Separate landscaping water meters have been suggested, the landscapers noted. They should be further explored. What about allocating a certain amount of water to each household, they asked. When that amount is used up, the ratepayer doesn't get any more. LACSD needs to put on those sorts of restrictions was the consensus.

Zak said the green industry in Lake Arrowhead is in automatic conservation mode for eight to nine months of the year. He and the others agreed they're comfortable with a later start to the irrigation season, which currently starts on April 1. They feel May 15 would be an acceptable start. And the season can end earlier—on October 15 or November 1, rather than November 30. Irrigation could be limited to three days a week, Zak added.

It is possible, the landscapers said, to conserve water while still maintaining the value of a home. “We need to focus on the percentage of landscaping,” Zak said. “Something that works for the old homes and the new. It's not fair for the old guy to have three acres of landscaping and the new guy nothing.”

The landscapers feel there is considerable water that can be saved. If LACSD mandated retrofitting on the part of their biggest users, the landscapers see a savings of about 100 acre-feet of water. Addressing the unexplained water loss of 18 percent and reducing it to the industry standard of 10 percent could save another 184 acre-feet. And the reduction in the length of the irrigation season could save 154 acre-feet. A total savings of 438 acre-feet per year in the opinion of the landscapers.

The landscapers fear passage of the ordinance would pit neighbor against neighbor as one is allowed to maintain existing landscaping and the other is not allowed to plant anything. That's a scenario they do not want to see.

What they do want is time to sit down with LACSD in roundtable discussions and develop a plan they would deem more reasonable.

Years of Experience

These landscapers would bring to the table years of experience. Connolly's company, which was started by his father, has been a part of the community for over 70 years. The business started out in Lake Arrowhead Village, then moved to Cedar Glen, Blue Jay and its current location in Rimforest.

Kerkvliet has been in the mountains for 45 years. He graduated from Rim High School and has a degree in ornamental horticulture; he also studied landscape architecture. “I started in the landscaping business 32 years ago,” he said. He's been designing and installing ponds since 1999. In addition to teaching at Cal State San Bernardino, he is writing a book on the plants of the San Bernardino Mountains.

Stehmeir said he was born at Mountains Community Hospital before it even had that name. His parents have been in the mountain communities for over 50 years. He, too, has a degree in ornamental horticulture. After being in the landscaping business for 10 years, he started his pond business eight or nine years ago.

Zak has been up here since 1990, he said, and has raised his sons here. “I started landscaping in the early 80s,” he noted. “I'm doing what I thoroughly love and enjoy.”

The landscaping community will be at the LACSD board meeting next Tuesday, April 22; it will be held at the Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa at 7 p.m. They urge the community at large to attend and offer their comments on the proposed ordinance. They also urge residents to e-mail the members of the board of directors with comments prior to the meeting (see the box for their addresses).