This is an example of ordinance interpretation, dealing with a difficult approval process and getting ordinances changed. I worked on this effort with my wife, Lisa Rini, who is the gardener for our house.

In response to a Stage 2 drought, San Diego adopted landscape watering restrictions on June 1, 2009 ( http://www.sandiego.gov/water/pdf/drought_ordinance.pdf  ). Watering is restricted  to certain days and hours. The restrictions may work for some traditional landscape-trees and bushes planted in the ground, however they do not work for plants like ours: low-water use plants in pots, mounted on bark and tillandsias (air plants).

After 3 months working our way through the overly complicated variance process, preparing a large number of supporting documents, and many conversations with Water Department staff and our Council person’s office, we finally received our water schedule variance.

The Water Department has proposed changes to the restrictions and variance process, some that directly respond to our problems and concerns ( http://docs.sandiego.gov/councilcomm_agendas_attach/2009/NRC_090909-3D.pdf ). We attended the recent committee hearing where these changes were reviewed. We presented revisions that will clarify the definitions, and ensure the type of plants in our garden are included in the revisions. The language changes were well received and are expected to be in the final language of the Municipal Code.

This is our recommendation for the Municode change:
(new) Plants not rooted in the ground that can be moved, which includes plants in containers, pots, or similar receptacles, plants mounted on bark or wood, as well as plants that do not grow in soil (such as air plants), (same) are considered the same as any other type of landscape and must follow time of day restrictions, but can be watered any day.

Our effort was mostly educational, making Water and City staff aware of our unusual plants and their unique water needs. We sent photos, slide shows, gave garden tours and even brought a tillandsia to the hearing. We found the process long and often frustrating, but feel that we won a victory for specialty gardeners and water conservation. We have shown that there are alternatives to a (sadly) common water saving solution: the dead lawn.