The Town of Fountain Hills and many of its residents take pride in the ability to work with and balance a community with the natural desert surroundings.

Residents who participated in the town’s strategic planning process in 2005 identified an adherence to low water landscaping as a priority for the community.

To that end during 2006 the town staff developed and the council approved a low water landscape ordinance for all new construction in the community, both commercial and residential.

The ordinance very simply calls for any landscaping for new development to comply with the low water standards.

It might seem that restricting plant options to those that are drought tolerant and use minimal water, but that is somewhat deceiving. In the ordinance, the town included the low water plant list compiled by the Arizona Department of Water Resources.

The ADWR lists more than 350 types of plants that satisfy low water requirements. That includes 70 annual wildflowers, 24 grasses, 29 groundcovers, 50 perennial wildflowers, 111 shrubs, 15 succulents, 59 trees and 21 vines.

The ADWR list includes all plants on the town’s current plant list with the exception of the cottonwood, which uses excessive amounts of water. Also, the town has added the Jacaranda tree to the lists as that was adopted as the town’s official tree in 1997.

The complete plant list can be found on the town website, www.fh.az.gov under the Planning and Building Safety heading.

For those who might wish to change or revitalize their existing landscaping the new ordinance might apply.

Existing landscaping that receives normal maintenance does not need to meet the low water standards unless individual plants are replaced, or more than 1,000 square feet of the existing landscaping is renovated.

The ordinance also exempts an area up to 1,000 square feet, which is defined as a “private non-restricted area.” This was done to allow for vegetable gardens.

The ordinance also applies to the replacement of vegetation that dies. The owner has up to a year to replace the plant or tree with the same species that died. However, after that time it must be replaced with something that is on the low water listing.

For example a citrus tree that dies can be replaced with the same thing for up to a year from the time it died. After that, however, it would need to be replaced with a low water species.

Fountain Hills is one of the few communities to enact a comprehensive low water landscape ordinance.