Updates have been made to the city of Lakeway’s landscaping ordinance in order to address local wildfire protection concerns.
The overview
City Council approval was given for a variety of changes to nine separate sections of Lakeway’s landscaping ordinance at a meeting held June 16.
The last update to the city’s landscape ordinance was made in October 2023, Lakeway Senior Planner Charlie Sullivan said.
“These round of changes are mainly to address two things,” Sullivan said. “One is some more tweaking [of the rules regarding] using the native plants, and the second is to address the wildfire danger.”
The details
Three chapters of the ordinance were updated. Chapter 22’s changes mainly involved updating definitions, such as adding definitions for terms like “trenching” and “boring.”
Chapters 24 and 28 addressed primarily site development and building regulations, Sullivan said.
Some updates to these two chapters include:
- Allowing brush piles to exist for 48 hours, adding flexibility for wildfire protection.
- Adding language specifying that mulch within 5 feet of a structure or combustible fence must be non-combustible.
- Prohibiting the use of inorganic mulch which may contain leaching chemicals.
- Setting restrictions on trenching or boring within the drip-line, or total circumference, of a protected tree.
- No longer defining artificial turf as “100% impervious cover.”
- Adding language specifying how the underside of decks and patios should be protected for wildfire prevention.
What else?
The updates come as extreme drought conditions and elevated wildfire risk continues in the Lake Travis region.
In addition to updating the landscaping ordinance, Lakeway has addressed these conditions by supporting legislative bills aimed at water conservation.
One such bill, put forward by local representative Vikki Goodwin, is House Bill 359, which sought to prevent homeowners associations from charging fines if, during a drought, homeowners were unable to water their yards.
Although HB 359 did not pass, a duplicate bill put forward by Rep. Caroline Harris Davila, HB 517, did pass and will be effective on Sept. 1.
