LANDSCAPE IMPROVEMENTS AND MAINTENANCE

The City's vision revolves around the preservation of its identity: an established image of lakes, creeks, forests, parks, and open space. In order to foster this distinctive, suburban identity, the Maintenance Division continuously maintains and further enriches the beauty of the City.

The Maintenance Division identifies public right-of-way landscape areas in need of enhancement. These special projects include upgrades to irrigation, plants, and trees. This Division constantly looks for opportunities to replace landscaping with drought tolerant vegetation reducing the usage of potable/drinking water. This Division also looks at every opportunity to use reclaimed water for irrigation purposes.

Landscape Maintenance

• Bees
• Expand the Forest Program
• Landscape Improvements and Maintenance
• Park Improvements
• Tree Maintenance

Resident Tree Policy

Per the Streets and Highways Code Section 5610, property owners are responsible for maintaining the trees placed in the parkway, between the curb and the sidewalk, adjoining their property. As defined by the Streets & Highway Code, "sidewalk area" includes the parkway and parking strip maintained in the area between the property line and the street line.

Water Conservation Focus

This Division recognizes California's drought and demonstrates water conscientiousness through its landscape maintenance: monitoring proper year-round irrigation, its use of drought resistant plants, and its commitment to the expansion of reclaimed water from neighboring Water Districts. This Division continues to look for funding to support drought conscious efforts through the application for various rebate programs. This effort has allowed for an expansion of drip irrigation, smart sprinkler controllers, and the removal of turf with California Friendly Native Plants and artificial turf. Please see the below Improvement Projects and Park Improvements for recent enhancement projects.

Improvement Projects

Ridge Route Drive and Elrond Lane 

In March 2016, the rebate funded turf removal/irrigation retrofit project on the slope of Ridge Route Dr. and Elrond Lane was completed. This improvement project included replacing pop-up spray heads with subsurface drip irrigation, replacing old irrigation clocks with Smart Clocks, and planting California friendly plants and trees in place of 3,960 square feet of turf.

Gowdy Avenue and Ridge Route Drive

In June 2015, improvements along the center median of Gowdy Avenue and Ridge Route Dr. were completed to replace turf with drought tolerant plants and to replace spray irrigation with a drip system.

Lake Forest Drive and Trabuco Road

In June 2015, the grant and rebate funded turf removal/irrigation retrofit project on El Toro Road and Trabuco Road, was completed. The new landscaping helps the City accomplish its goals of water reduction by replacing pop-up spray heads with subsurface drip irrigation, replacing old irrigation clocks with Smart Clocks and planting California friendly plants in place of turf. The project was completed on-time and within budget by the City's maintenance contractor, SpectrumCare Landscape.

Ridge Route Drive, between Rockfield Boulevard and Muirlands Boulevard

In April 2015, the parkway renovation project on Ridge Route Drive, between Rockfield Boulevard and Muirlands Boulevard along the Country Side wall was completed. The phase one project consisted of sod and existing irrigation removal, and the installation of a new drip irrigation system and a mix of drought tolerant plants and hardy plants to provide a variety of texture, color and heights.