Yes agree, we have many neighbors who def are not in compliance.
My husband did all his own landscaping & he is in compliance. We do not have hardscape & I believe that also makes a difference. People choose to make their own rules & unless someone complains nothing will be done.


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Make good friends out of the neighbor whose property you're going to becoming very close to. Sounds like they may already be in violation of this "rule". They should be the only ones who care. If they don't you're good to go.

You could put metal strip borders around slopes (brown or dark green blend in pretty well) and then put rock around areas clearly in your free zone. Look at some of the landscapes around in newer areas and you can see alternate types of bed walls which I think look lovely. Hillsborough Trail has several nice ones.

Regarding your mulch not staying put around your palm trees, you can get shredded rubber mulch, mix it (not spray) with mulch lock and spread the mixture around the trees. The trees at the Walmart on 466 are done like this if you would like to check it out. Water does pass through and the rubber mulch. Although more expensive, it lasts practically forever. It is made of shredded tires. The color is guaranteed for ten years. I chose the dark brown color so that when it fades, it fades to the tire color (black).

If your neighbors are not complaing, then leave it alone

If you are really distressed about this problem, you have two choices, and perhaps more. First option is to put it in where you like it and hope your neighbors don't report the improper construction - not a great option and could be costly. Second option is to move to a location where you can legally install the landscaping and hardscaping the way you want to do it. Chances are that you might even make enough money selling your existing house so you can pay for the new work with the profit; however, if you have only owned your house for a few years, you could only make enough profit by selling by owner as realtor fees will eat up your profit.




QUOTE=coffeebean;1418825]Ever since I have lived in The Villages as a seasonal resident for several years, I have loved the look of the tiered walls bordering the landscape beds. I have dreamed of having tiered walls installed on our property and would love to have rock in the landscape beds now that I am a full time resident in a lovely home on a cul-de-sac.

I have recently found out that any kind of a border for the landscape beds must be a minimum of 3 feet from the property line. If there isn't 3 feet, the border would not be in compliance with the ARC. My front landscape beds on both sides of my driveway are closer than 3' to the property line. One side of my driveway has established double palm trees which are barely 3 feet from the property line and that is where the trees are located, not including the surrounding landscape bed. I am not going to be able to have the beautiful tiered walls and rock that I have been admiring for several years. Hubby and I plan to be in compliance with the ARC.

Needless to say, I'm finding out many homeowners are not in compliance with the ARC regarding the borders on their properties. Tiered walls and concrete curbing are closer than 3 feet to the property lines everywhere in The Villages. I don't know how many homeowners actually have approval for their borders which are not in compliance but I was told by the landscaper that the ARC would not give approval for borders that are not a minimum of 3 feet from the property line.

With this revelation that I will not be able to have borders with rock in our landscape beds I have another dilemma which I'm trying to sort through.....The double palm trees I mentioned earlier are mounded so high in the bed that mulch will not stay put. The soil surrounding the tree is root bound so digging out the roots is out of the question. The mulch just slides off the "hill" so I will never be able to maintain mulch in that area. I've been told by a landscaper that my only option would be to put pine straw in my beds because that is the only material that will stay put without some sort of a border to keep the material in place.

I know pine straw is used by The Villages in all the common area landscape beds but I certainly do not want it on my property. I'm at a loss right now as to what to do about this.

I realized yesterday when discussing this problem with the landscaper, if I had a border installed around the landscape bed to hold in rock or mulch, there would not be enough room for a riding lawn mower to get through between my property and my neighbor's property. My neighbor's property has a border for rock in their landscape beds. I'm at a loss.

If you have gotten through this long post, I thank you for your time, and welcome any suggestions how to fix this.[/QUOTE]

This thread is frustrating.

Nobody is referring to the location of the setbacks. The way it is governed, the sides are narrower than the back, and the back is narrower then the front.

AND these setbacks have changed over time.

AND these setbacks vary by county - TV is spread over three counties.

Rubber tire mulch is bad for the environment. Hard to believe they still allow the sale of it.

I have heard that. Also, a lot of playgrounds and high school football fields are being replaced because of the toxicity problem with the rubber and kids' exposure to it.