CCFJ COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION BLOG

FLORIDA FRIENDLY LANDSCAPING – KILLED BY UF!

An Opinion By Jan Bergemann

Published August 5, 2025

Florida’s Legislature had great intentions when it implemented FS 720.3075(4)(a) – headlined “Florida Friendly Landscaping” in 2010. The law was very detailed and referred to FS 373.185, the statutes that define “Florida Friendly Landscaping”. These statutes were created in order to preserve Florida’s water, especially since Florida is selling water to out-of-state companies. Every year Florida’s property owners are hit with serious water-restrictions, often causing water-guzzling turf-grass – like St. Augustine Grass – to die.

FS 720.3075(4)(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.

Owners, especially in homeowners’ associations, were forced to replace this grass at high expense, often year for year. Florida’s legislators finally listened to the numerous complaints and enacted these statutes prohibiting HOAs from implementing Florida-Friendly Landscaping.

But the Legislature made one serious mistake: They made the University of Florida the “guardian” for the guidelines of these new laws!

And we all know how far our “universities” will go to protect their money-sources. And the Florida Turfgrass Association is one of the many organizations financing UF.

Despite the fact that St. Augustine grass is known as a serious water-guzzler and quickly dies if not permanently watered, representatives of the University of Florida have testified in court that St. Augustine grass is NOT a water-guzzler and is part of the plants allowed in Florida-Friendly Landscaping. And St. Augustine grass not only needs lots of water, it as well is often in need of high maintenance, like pesticides and fungicides. With other words: HOAs can continue to demand owners resoddding their dead lawn with St. Augustine grass – according to the University of Florida.

This kills a main reason why this law was actually implemented in the first place, and turf growers can continue to sell their product to owners who had hoped that this law would stop forcing them to pay for St. Augustine grass over and over again.

Does that really mean that the opinion of a university can actually kill the intention of a law enacted by the legislature?