Five unused, hard-to-irrigate turf areas (1,550 square feet) were transformed into beautiful xeriscape designs. Led by volunteers, the HOA replaced the turf and multiple sprinkler heads with water-wise, gardens that created pollinator habitats and saved water and maintenance costs for the HOA. This project created opportunities for community building and decreased isolation throughout the COVID pandemic and continues to do so.

 

Sustainability Benefits

• Primary Benefit: Water
• Secondary Benefits: Natural Environment, and Community Cohesion & Resilience

 

Project Costs

Total Cost: $10,722.63

• $6,000 from Neighborhood Improvement Program (NIP) for materials and contractors to deliver the materials
• $4,722.63 from the HOA ($312.33 in match funds, $1,210.30 in donated materials and labor, and 161 hours of volunteer community labor = $3,200)

 

Ongoing Costs:

• Low maintenance (mulching, deadheading, minimal weeding until fully established), not no maintenance sites
• These maintenance needs can be met by HOA members instead of needing to hire contractors
  Does require minimal fertilization to help the plants fully establish and reach their full potential

 

Expected Benefits

Water:

• Each plot was reduced from 6-8 sprinkler heads to a single dripline each and is expected to remove water runoff and waste. Eliminating all wasted irrigation runoff.

 

Natural Environment:

• These xeriscape gardens reduce water needs and create pollinator habitats that were not present when the area was only turf.

 

Community Cohesion and Health:

• Create opportunities for community involvement in maintaining the gardens that is outdoors and therapeutic. Also creates beautiful locations for residents to sit and enjoy the outdoors.
• One of the gardens is ADA accessible.

 

Project Timeline

First Garden Project: 2016

• Installed the first large project
• Worked with the community to replace turf with water wise gardens and an ADA-accessible community bench

 

Planning: August 2019 – January 2020

August 2019

• Kick-off planning meetings

September 2019

• Applied to the Neighborhood Improvement Program (NIP) grant

January 2020

• Presented and evaluated by the Neighborhood Group Leaders Association

 

Construction: April – June 2020

• Received bids for the project – in the end, a HOA member served as a general contractor for the entire project to save costs
• Removed the turf (contractor) and turned off irrigation systems, graded, added soil, brought in boulders, installed plants, irrigation drip lines, and mulched
• Volunteers helped with shoveling, mulching and moving of cobble rocks

 

Key Take-aways

• While the project was in construction stage, we were grateful when residents came out to offer words of encouragement; enjoy the day to day changes, and bring much appreciated drinks or treats during the many 90+ degree days of work.
• The funds were not enough to hire a professional landscape architect, so instead used in-house labor and expertise to design and implement the project. This enabled us to buy bigger plants and better hardscape materials.
• Repurposed rocks into the final design so that nothing was wasted.