Meeting Date01/03/2023
Public Comment TopicPublic Participation of non-agendaed items and consent agenda
Choose Which Item Your Comment Corresponds WithItem A
NameWes Blackman
Comments to be read into record

Good evening honorable Mayor and Commissioners. These comments concern what is a continuing code compliance crisis related to the city’s rules, regulations and policy towards not allowing artificial turf. I will not dive into the merits or downfalls related to the use of artificial turf and its potential environmental impact. However, one wonders whether a regularly irrigated yard planted with St. Augustine grass and receiving regular doses of herbicides and pesticides is a better choice than a material that requires neither. My message here tonight is that if you are true to your desire to ban the use of artificial turf in the city that you use all the means at your disposal to communicate that to the property owners, residents and businesses within the City of Lake Worth Beach. Put this out on the website, in utility bill inserts, press releases and the City’s YouTube channel. By not fully notifying and explaining this ban to the public, there are more and more Code Compliance resulting from people installing expensive artificial in their yards only to be told after the fact that it is not allowed and then cited by a Code Compliance officer. I am asking that the City be proactive and work with home and garden stores, landscape companies and make sure they know artificial turf cannot be used in the City. Go the extra mile. Right now we have a situation where the City is like a spider in a web waiting for the next person to run afoul of the ban. That ban is also not clearly enunciated in the land development regulations. It only arises since the landscaping code calls for “living ground cover” but doesn’t explicitly prohibit artificial turf. I understand it is that way since the land development regulations are constructed to be “inclusionary” in that what is permitted is specifically stated. That is something that an urban planner can understand but not necessarily understood by the general public. That’s why we are having a crush of code compliance cases related to this item. It also doesn’t help that the code is selectively enforced as there are all sorts of lawns with no ground cover, living or otherwise. Many times violators of the ban are identified by neighbors who take it upon themselves to identify artificial turf lawns. Again, to prevent unpleasant surprises, please do all you can to notify the public so that property owners do not waste money and time installing something that must eventually be removed. Thank you.

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