BEVERLY HILLS - Less than a mile from Sol Koppel's one-story home is a sign aimed at motorists on Forest Ridge Boulevard picturing a drop of water about to fall from a faucet.
 

It reads: "Every drop means a lot. Conserve now." Koppel said he shares that sentiment. But he is encountering some static from the Oakwood Village homeowners association. Koppel is scheduled to go before the association's board of directors today to fight for his xeriscaped, water-conserving front lawn. He also wants "to remind people that they have worked hard and are entitled to enjoy the fruits of their labors," as he wrote in a letter to the Citrus Times. "That we live in a democracy, and we must not allow a few pushy individuals to rule our lives. If you want to maintain and enjoy your freedoms,

Sol A. Koppel stands Wednesday in his xeriscaped front lawn, which garnered recognition as a Certified Florida Yard for conserving water. His homeowners association had another reaction: Grow more grass.

Koppel, 69, a retired computer programmer, is from Brooklyn, N.Y., where he and his wife, Joan, 63, lived most of their lives.

"The closest I got to a garden," Koppel said in his staunch accent, "was a plant on my fire escape."

But he grew a green thumb early last year, after he visited the Central Ridge Library, which is not far from the Koppels' custom-built, one-floor home off Colbert Court. Joan Koppel uses a wheelchair and has multiple sclerosis; she requires much of Sol Koppel's attention - attention he had been putting toward maintaining green grass.

"Mowing, watering, weeding, it was like every week," Koppel said. "The weeds were continuously getting out of hand even though I put weed stuff on it."

At the library, he saw fliers and brochures from the University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service and the Southwest Florida Water Management District preaching the merits of xeriscaping, which is landscaping using plants, shrubs, trees and other vegetation that require far less water than most domestic grasses.

A xeriscaped garden had been set up outside.

"I thought, this is the answer to my dreams," Koppel said.

He uprooted his lawn. He worked an hour a day, and later - when it became too hot - an hour at night, planting 32 white Indian hawthorns around the perimeters, a purple leaf tree to the right, a sargent crabapple tree in the center, gardens of azaleas and verbenas, pairs of pittosporums and ixoras, and six dwarf gardenias on each side of the lawn.

He dug the holes himself, shuttled back and forth to Home Depot and Wal-Mart, spent more than $1,000 and made changes as he went.

"I learned as I tried," Koppel said, "hit or miss."

He finished in August, and UF officials inspected his lawn.

They gave Koppel a sign to post: "Certified Florida Yard."

He put it up. But that same month, members of the Oakwood Village Homeowners Association architectural design committee told him to take it down.

Signs are prohibited, Koppel said.

That wasn't all. He was told his lawn violated the deed restricted community's laws.

"An inspection by members of the Board of Directors has confirmed that your property is non-compliance with the deed restrictions," said a letter dated Aug. 27, "and corrective action is necessary."

The association, initially, asked him to submit plans that he used for his lawn. They rejected them once Koppel sent them in. They told him he needed more grass.

But Koppel said the homeowners manual and neighborhood guidelines make no mention of how much grass he needs.

He added a 12-foot-wide strip. But the association said it wasn't enough.

Soon, Koppel received a flurry of registered letters asking him to get into compliance. He was warned of possible fines.

Koppel complained to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office about harassment, but since it was a civil matter, deputies couldn't get involved, spokeswoman Gail Tierney said.

Koppel said he doesn't understand the association's badgering. Citrus County, which was under water restrictions just a few years ago because of drought, and Swiftmud want residents to reduce water like he is doing, he said.

"We support Florida-friendly landscaping," said Swiftmud spokesman Michael Molligan, who explained that Florida-friendly is the same as xeriscaping. "So, if you have restrictions that require you to put in landscaping using large amounts of water, that's certainly something we don't promote or support."

A state statute says a deed restriction or covenant passed after Oct. 1, 2001, or a local government ordinance, may not prohibit any property owner from implementing xeriscape or Florida-friendly landscape on his or her land.

At the homeowners association meeting today, Koppel said, he will be armed with a petition with more than 170 signatures from supportive Oakwood neighbors.

The petition states his case and pledges: "As long as Sol Koppel maintains his property free of weeds, in good order and presentable to our community, I will be in favor of his landscaping efforts."

Koppel's next-door neighbor, a retired real estate agent, was moved enough to include a letter.

"Sol's yard does not depreciate the value of my property," David Walling wrote.

Standing in his front yard, where a cactus shoots into the air, plants grow through well-contained mulch and nary a weed can be seen, Koppel said he looks forward to facing the association.

"I guess my so-called crime would be that I do not have enough grass," he had said. 

"If this turns out to be fineable, then the U.S.A. and Florida are headed down a very dangerous path of lost freedom."