The Town of Erie is currently updating Unified Development Code Section 10.6.4 Landscaping, Screening, and Fencing to ensure new development and qualifying redevelopment have landscapes that save water and better reflect the natural landscapes of the Front Range.

Erie’s Water Efficiency Plan sets goals to save and protect Erie's water for our current and future residents. By 2030 Erie hopes to reduce its water use by 10% to reach a target goal of 115 gallons per capita per day (gpcd). Reducing outdoor water use is a key strategy to achieving this goal. One way to reduce water use is to reduce the demand for outdoor watering in landscapes by encouraging and/or requiring sustainable landscaping practices for new and redevelopment projects.

Erie has several water efficiency rebates and programs available to residential and non-residential customers, including: a turf replacement rebate program, Garden In A Box, outdoor sprinkler consultations, and rebates on smart irrigation controllers, high-efficiency nozzles, rain barrels, and drip lines.

While Erie’s current landscape ordinance includes some water efficient landscaping standards, the update will strengthen and clarify these requirements – ensuring that key best practices are included for new and redevelopment projects. The updated ordinance will also ensure these standards reflect the most up-to-date research and technology, allowing Erie to increase water savings. Creating sustainable landscaping standards is an impactful way to further reduce outdoor water use in Erie and preserve our water as a resource for future generations. In addition to reducing landscape water demand in new and redevelopment, the proposed landscape code will enhance the visual quality of Erie’s landscapes, reduce stormwater runoff preserving higher water quality, protect and expand the Town’s tree canopy, create green space essential for community health and well-being, and promote biodiversity and pollinator habitat.

Why Now?

Colorado is a dry state, averaging only 15 inches of precipitation each year. As we continue to experience drought and warmer seasons, water conservation has become more and more important. According to the 2023 Colorado Water Plan, if nothing changes, Colorado communities may see a gap in between supply and demand of 230,000-740,000 acre-feet of water each year by 2050. That's enough water to meet the needs of 460,000 to 1,480,000 homes a year. Local water conservation efforts, such as creating water efficient landscaping ordinances, have the potential to help reduce the projected water supply and demand gap while creating lush, colorful, and resilient landscapes that help to reduce urban heat island effects.

The ordinance update will bring Erie into compliance with SB24 – 005: Prohibit Landscaping Practices for Water Conservation, which bans the installation of nonfunctional turfgrass on all new and redeveloped nonresidential properties on and after January 1, 2026. It also brings Erie into compliance with HB25-1113 – Limit Turf in New Residential Development which expands the prohibition of nonfunctional turfgrass to multi-family properties, prohibits nonfunctional artificial turf on Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional (CII)and multi-family properties, and asks communities to limit cool-season turfgrass in some way on all residential properties by January 1, 2028. Cool-season turfgrass or turf is defined as: A grouping of grasses that grow in very close proximity to form a living surface at the ground plane, is regularly mowed forming a dense growth of leaf blades and roots. Grasses that use more than 20 inches of water per growing season. Cool-season turf species include annual bluegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, red fescue, tall fescue and similar varieties.

Why Prohibit Cool-Season Turfgrass?

Kentucky bluegrass, the most common grass species installed in Colorado, requires significant amounts of irrigation water to survive in our climate (approximately 24-26 inches per year). Other cool-season turfgrasses, such as tall fescue and perennial ryegrass, exhibit similar irrigation requirements (20-22 inches/year). By contrast, native or warm-season turfgrasses and native plants such as buffalo grass, and blue grama require only about 8-10 inches of supplemental irrigation per year, or upwards of a 50% water savings when compared to the water requirements of Kentucky bluegrass.

To ensure the Town of Erie uses its water supply as efficiently as possible, the ordinance update does not permit the installation of cool-season turfgrass in new development and redevelopment meeting certain thresholds. Native and warm-season turfgrasses, called “alternative turfgrasses” in the ordinance, is permitted but may not exceed 30% of the total landscaped area for non-residential properties and 50% of the total landscaped area for single-family, duplex, and townhome properties.

Recognizing the opportunity to grow more efficiently by reducing cool-season turfgrass, many communities across the Front Range are adopting water efficient landscaping codes that limit cool season turfgrass in new development and redevelopment. For comparison, the below-listed municipalities limit turfgrass in new development to the following:

Cool-season Turfgrass Limits in Colorado Municipal Codes:

What Requirements Will the Updated Ordinance Include?

The new ordinance would establish water efficient landscaping standards for new development and certain redevelopment projects. The standards would include:

• Prohibiting cool season turf grass on all properties (except for some active recreation areas).

• Limiting the use of alternative turfgrass to:

• 50% of the landscaped area on single-family, duplex, and townhome residential properties,,

• 30% of the landscape area on non-residential properties,

• Recreational use areas or other spaces that are regularly used for civic, community, or recreational purposes on multi-family properties.

• Requiring all property types, except for single-family and duplex dwelling units, to use technologies that maximize irrigation efficiency, including installing smart irrigation controllers to ensure that plants are not overwatered. These requirements are encouraged for single-family and duplex private lots.

• Establishing fire wise landscaping requirements.

• Wood mulches and highly flammable living plant material are not allowed within the first five feet from structures.

• Non-flammable materials such as flagstone, pavers, or rock mulch and fire resilient live plant materials, as specified int he Private Owned Landscaping List, shall be installed within the first five feet of the home or building.

• Requiring at least 75% of all annuals and trees, and 100% of shrubs, perennials, groundcovers, and ornamental grasses used to landscape each site be water efficient and selected from an approved plant list.

• Prohibiting the use of artificial turf in landscaped areas, except for athletic fields of play.

The proposed landscape ordinance will not apply to existing landscapes in Erie. The ordinance is applicable to all new residential and non-residential development projects, as well as new or expanded parking lots. Only redevelopment that requires a building permit, plan check, or site plan, involves replacing an entire structure, or the disturbance of more than 50% of the total landscaped area will be required to comply with the ordinance.

The updated code is organized into different sections that pertain to different property and development types in Erie. These sections currently include:

• Purpose 

• Applicability

• Landscape and irrigation system design plans

• General landscaping requirements and standards 

• Additional landscaping requirements by property type

• Rights-of-way, medians, transportation corridors

• Single family and duplex dwelling units

• Multi family dwelling units

• Nonresidential

• Parking lot landscaping

• Stormwater facilities

• Guarantee of installation 

• Maintenance

• Screening

• Fencing and walls

How Do I Stay Informed?

This page will be updated regularly as the Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance update moves forward. Please check back for the latest information, and feel free to contact the Sustainability Division with any questions.