Over the course of this semester, I partnered with Melissa Englund, the Sustainability Coordinator and a member of the Sustainability Commission with the City of Englewood, Colorado for my Capstone project. After discussing the potential options of what the City could advance regarding sustainability, we landed on Turf Replacement being a topic that was in both of our interests and fit my education.
This year, Colorado passed HB 22-1151 – The Turf Replacement Program (HB 22-1151 Summary). This bill required The State Water Conservation Board to develop a program to financially incentivize the voluntary replacement of healthy irrigated turf for water-wise landscaping. I happily took on the task of researching and identifying the best potential approaches to successfully obtain and use the funding from CO HB 22-1151, dispersing in July of 2023. This was achieved through internal and external interviews, attending water-conservation meetings, researching turf replacement itself, and understanding how other communities are approaching turf replacement.
This project coincided with updates to the City’s codes and the water efficiency plan, allowing for this conversation to be brought to light at a beneficial and actionable time. On December 5th, 2022, Melissa Englund and I presented to the Englewood City Council at the bi-monthly meeting. The response was overall positive and well-received by the City Staff and the City Council. I hope to hear news from Melissa Englund soon regarding if the City of Englewood chooses to move forward with our concluding suggestion, partnering with Resource Central, and enrolling in their Lawn Replacement Program and Garden In a Box Program.
This would allow Englewood residents to receive rebates for using Resource Central’s Turf Replacement program, making Turf Replacement more prominent, affordable, and achievable for all citizens. In turn, this will provide landscapes that can survive a drier, hotter, and less-predictable future.