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UPDATE: 2:35 p.m.
Council approved the options as recommended and those will be put to residents of Turtle Mountain in a future open house.
ORIGINAL: 5 a.m.
We've covered the debate over the shrubbery on the boulevards in Turtle Mountain so often that we've run out of Monty Python references.
Vernon City Council was asked by city administration to approve a public open house at Tuesday's regular meeting to be held on Sept. 30 for residents of the subdivision to review options for landscaping and maintenance going forward.
The recommendation is for council to endorse the proposed landscape design options as outlined in the report by the parks planner to be presented at an open house.
There was severe blowback from residents who bought lots and built houses in the upscale community partly based on the landscaping and esthetic installed and maintained by the developer Wesbild. The developer continued maintenance of the lavish green spaces several years beyond the original agreement with the city partly because they still had lots to market.
So now it will go back to the residents to look at options that city is willing to maintain going forward. There are three primary options on the table:
Option 1 - Trees and rock groundcover with an up-front capital expenditure of $175,000 and ongoing annual maintenance costs of $75,000.
Option 2 - Trees and native grass groundcover: This option is similar to Option 1 but the sod and rock would be replaced with low-maintenance native dryland grass seed and perennial mix in a planting strip along the full length of Turtle Mountain Boulevard, at the Alexis Park Drive entrance and between the sound fence and sidewalk.
Option 3 - Phased xeriscaping: This option departs from the standard of other city boulevards and would require a change in normal maintenance operation. Installation would be phased over three years and has a higher up front capital cost estimated at $300,000, but would result in lower maintenance costs than options 1 and 2.
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