Can you believe some Homeowner’s Associations (HOAs) require residents to replace their entire lawn with new sod if it is not green enough? Or that homeowners are harassed, fined, or risk losing their house if other plant life besides St. Augustine grass begins growing in their lawn? Or if ants create a visible mound in their yard? Not only are these restrictions stressful and financially burdensome on citizens, but they are also ruining Florida’s ecosystem.

Let’s face it, Florida's water is in crisis, and every yard impacts the surrounding environment as a whole.

Sod is grown in wastewater biosolids so heavily nutrient rich and then it is encouraged to be fertilized again, over and over, on a never-ending cycle after installation. It is believed the storm water runoff from sod maintenance severely contributes to the formation of muck on the bottom of rivers which smothers the seagrass. Seagrass is at the core of the food web in aquatic ecosystems and numerous animals rely on it for survival.

We the people are requesting the Department of Agriculture, Nikki Fried, investigate, and enact laws to change the way Homeowner's Associations enforce the mandatory use of often a monoculture of turf grass. Maintaining such lawns in Florida requires an abundance of water and fertilizers. Even though many municipalities have imposed restricted fertilizer use, homeowners will still apply fertilizers containing nitrogen and phosphorus during the rainy season. These nutrients percolate through the soil into the groundwater and/or are carried down into the storm drain and deposit into the nearest body of water. The abundance of nutrients directly correlates to the toxic algae blooms experienced all over the state of Florida. Stopping such poisoning is especially imperative in Brevard county, where the Indian River Lagoon has experienced unprecedented manatee deaths in the first 5 months of 2021.

Please sign to voice your support for ending the noxious overreach of HOAs on the residents who reside in said neighborhoods.