Membership in a Homeowners Association (HOA) is often mandatory for much of Florida HOAs may impose standards of lawn care, mandate mulch, drainage pathways, and tree trimmings. If you’re looking to renovate your garden, or landscape, or Florida lawn, you may want to consider your HOA’s position before embarking on any major projects.

If you have a particularly overbearing or strict HOA, rest assured that their power is not unlimited. Several lawsuits have occurred in Florida over the past few years which has established guidelines for what HOAs can and can’t impose.

Tl;dr – If you’re adhering to Florida-friendly landscaping principles, then you’re in the clear by state law. By encouraging the transformation of conventional landscapes to Florida-Friendly landscapes, HOAs and homeowners can conserve water, protect the environment, and allow a wide range of aesthetic choices.

When choosing a landscaping company, you want to make sure that whoever is overseeing the maintenance of your Florida lawn is familiar are experts in Florida-friendly landscaping principles. This ensures that not only are you sticking to the law, you’re also keeping to best practices which can reduce costs and enhance the natural beauty of your home.

Lawsuits

The power and extent of what HOAs can force you to do has been tested a few times over the last few years. The following are a few instances where the Florida-friendly landscaping issues came up:

1. Lesia DeFelice

Lesia DeFelice embarked on a seven year project to transform the landscape of her home. When completed, her Deerfield Beach home was with lush trees, plants, and small patches of environmentally friendly (and allergy-free) fake grass. She admits she hopped on the bandwagon of a new, popular water-conserving process called “xeriscaping”.

For her efforts, she found herself in court facing a lawsuit from her homeowners association. Her demanded the artificial grass be removed, but what they didn’t know was that this new trend was being promoted by the state of Florida.

“But that’s not so easy,” said DeFelice. “Without the Astro Turf the whole landscape is jeopardized. The Astro Turf keeps the soil moist and protects the trees and plants.” While the use of artificial grass is commonly used in xeriscaping, DeFelice’s homeowners association alleges DeFelice and her husband, Thomas, did not seek or receive proper approval for its installation as called for in association governing documents. In general, the documents say artificial grass is “not harmonious with the surrounding community.”

DeFelice’s efforts also appear to be in line with what the state of Florida is encouraging homeowners to do. Florida Statute 720.3075, for instance, reads in part that “Florida friendly landscaping and other water use and pollution prevention measures to conserve or protect the state’s water resources serves as a compelling public interest and that the participation of homeowners associations and local governments is essential to the state’s efforts in water conservation.”

The law also states that homeowners association governing documents and bylaws “may not prohibit or be enforced so as to prohibit any property owner from implementing Florida-friendly landscaping.”

The decision of the The Gates of Hillsboro vs. the DeFelices came down to the issue of the artificial grass, and whether not artificial grass in general may be prohibited.

2. Dominic Bruno

Dominic Bruno embarked on a project to optimize his Florida lawn. He tried to reduce the amount of work that his lawn needed and also bring down the water requirement. A 78-year-old former police officer , Bruno lives in Sable Ridge in Land O’Lakes and suffers from  Parkinson’s disease. His wife, Ilona, has terminal cancer.

In 2009, he replaced his St. Augustine grass with a Florida-friendly lawn, which began with a layer of mulch. This attracted the attention the Sable Ridge Homeowners Association, and began a six year battle spanning two lawsuits and at least $15,000 in legal fees.

“Typically my involvement in most cases ends when I send a firm, legal letter stating the homeowners’ rights to Florida-friendly landscaping”, says Barbara Stage, an Orlando based lawyer.  “Most associations are smart enough to realize this isn’t a good case to litigate, but you get those that are hard-headed and think they’re going to get away with it and dig their heels in and fight to the end.”

But for those that decide to fight, the cost can be overbearing. “When you tell people they need to spend $100,000 or more to fight for their plants, they give up and that’s the sad part about it. We’re supposed to be saving the environment and people are giving up because they’re being bullied into spending tons of money.”

3. Renee Parker

Renee Parker wanted to eliminate irrigation and fertilizing in her yard. Her home owner’s association – the Summerport Residential Property Owners Association – didn’t like it, favoring uniform lush Florida lawn for all houses. They filed a lawsuit which ended in a secret settlement, disappointing those hoping for an environmentally favorable precedent of this early test of the Florida-friendly landscaping statute.  

She was sued by her homeowner association in 2012 for planting drought-tolerant landscaping in a neighborhood dominated by pampered lawns. Although the case was widely watched for an interpretation of state law, Parker said the court fight left her ill from stress and not able to continue.

“It’s a very weak law,” said Jeannette Moore, a St. Augustine real-estate broker who specializes in environmentally friendly properties and maintains a Facebook page as a resource for Floridians stymied in applying the 2009 law.

“The Parkers were dragged through the mud, swamp and everything else,” Moore said. “It was an ugly, ugly case. Since there are no teeth in the statute it has become a political issue,” Moore said. “It shouldn’t be political.”

Can my HOA really stop me?

Florida lawyers take the position that Florida is one of several states that prohibits HOAs from limiting an environmentally friendly Florida lawn. They purport that if condominium’s covenants or bylaws prohibit what you can and can’t plant, Florida law supersedes the HOA bylaws.

Florida statute 720.3075 states that homeowner’s association rules cannot prohibit a property owner from planting “Florida-friendly landscaping”. It states:

(a) The Legislature finds that the use of Florida-friendly landscaping and other water use and pollution prevention measures to conserve or protect the state’s water resources serves a compelling public interest and that the participation of homeowners’ associations and local governments is essential to the state’s efforts in water conservation and water quality protection and restoration.

(b) Homeowners’ association documents, including declarations of covenants, articles of incorporation, or bylaws, may not prohibit or be enforced so as to prohibit any property owner from implementing Florida-friendly landscaping, as defined in s. 373.185, on his or her land or create any requirement or limitation in conflict with any provision of part II of chapter 373 or a water shortage order, other order, consumptive use permit, or rule adopted or issued pursuant to part II of chapter 373.

Florida statute 373.185 defines “Florida-friendly landscaping”, which Florida statute 720.3075 refers to. It states:

 “Florida-friendly landscaping” means quality landscapes that conserve water, protect the environment, are adaptable to local conditions, and are drought tolerant. The principles of such landscaping include planting the right plant in the right place, efficient watering, appropriate fertilization, mulching, attraction of wildlife, responsible management of yard pests, recycling yard waste, reduction of storm water runoff, and waterfront protection. Additional components include practices such as landscape planning and design, soil analysis, the appropriate use of solid waste compost, minimizing the use of irrigation, and proper maintenance. California and Texas have implemented similar laws over the past few years, so HOAs nationally are beginning to embrace to there are many HOAs that have had to become adaptive to adaptive landscaping.

Have Some People Gone Too Far?

In some circumstances, people feel the definition of “Florida-friendly landscaping” is being taken too far. If purely optimized for water reduction, or lack of maintenance, the result can be unseemly. In cases where astroturf replaces lawn have been deemed unreasonable, for example. While technically sticking to the literal interpretation, it failed to capture the spirit of the legislation.

“It looks like a jungle,” resident Craig Bonifant said during a 2017 protest of a property in the Village of Amelia. The house had let all of the plants go unmaintained and claimed that the approach was Florida-friendly.Florida friendly landscaping still requires care and maintenance; the only true way to have a care free lawn is to have it managed by professionals.

Moving to Florida Friendly Lawns

After the initial set of lawsuits, communities and HOAs across Florida are slowly beginning to embrace Florida-friendly landscaping techniques and incorporating them into their mandates and shared spaces.

• The city of Marco Island is reworking their road medians in the style of Florida-friendly landscaping. They believe this will save on water and provide better vies for motorists.
• The Volusia County Water and Soil Conservation Board embarked on a mission to educate its residents about the practices of Florida-friendly landscaping. “The overall goal is to promote the efficient use of soil and water resources by protecting water quality and preventing soil damage, using best-management-practice demonstration projects,” says Kelly, chair of the conservation board.
• Tampa Bay and Hillsborough County offer mini grants for beautification projects that incorporate Florida-friendly landscaping.

How do I work with my HOW to make my Florida Lawn Florida Friendly?

Embracing Florida-friendly landscaping principles doesn’t have to be black-and-white. Small improvements to lawns, plant beds, and gardens may be net improvements to landscapes that may not invoke a peep from your HOA. Small changes to landscapes may improve drainage, reduce maintenance, conserve water use, and promote plant growth.

If you have an HOA that doesn’t favor change and may attempt some of the shenanigans that befell the defendants in the above lawsuits, you may not want to rush into things. The first step is to read up on what the best practices are and let the HOA know what you’re planning to do so temporary, dramatic changes like mulching a lawn don’t come as such as surprise.

For larger jobs, transparency and working together with your HOA from the start of any project will generally reduce friction and lead to a more successful outcome when embarking on any kind of transformational landscaping project. You may want to hire a professional landscaping service who can create plans for the perfect Florida lawn, or model the changes using computer software to put the HOAs mind at ease that any changes may be temporary and short term. Make sure the professionals you work with are responsive and knowledgeable about landscaping best practices to ensure any confrontation with an obstinate HOA goes in your favor.