Artificial turf in Dallas and the code limit most buyers miss

The City of Dallas Landscape and Tree Manual reproduces Development Code Article X, Section 51A-10.103(a), Acceptable Plant Materials: artificial plant materials, including synthetic turf, may not be used to satisfy the requirements of this article. So where a site carries a required-landscape obligation, synthetic turf cannot be counted toward it. The source document is silent on two things we will not guess at. It does not say whether synthetic turf counts toward pervious or impervious cover calculations, and it does not say whether turf is barred outright from a private residential yard that carries no required-landscape obligation at all. Confirm both with Dallas Sustainable Development for your specific property.

Dallas adopted its Drought Contingency Plan by Council Resolution No. 190680 on April 24, 2019. Stage 1 begins below 65 percent of the utility's share of conservation storage and caps watering at two days per week. Stage 2 begins below 50 percent and drops it to one day per week, on the residential trash pick-up day, with a 25 percent surcharge on high-volume users. Stage 3 begins below 35 percent and prohibits watering of turf, shrubs, perennials, annuals and ground covers outright, with trees allowed by drip or hand-held hose one day a week and a 50 percent surcharge. A homeowner reading Stage 3 is reading a scenario in which a natural lawn cannot legally be kept alive.