Borders on Landscape Beds
 

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.

I was told it has to be 5 feet from the property line.

Do not listen to a contractor for the correct answer. He wants your money and they're not all honest.
Go to district gov.org look under community standards and read your district rules. If still not sure call community standards.

It all changed about a month ago. Three feet is allowed now

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It was a 5' set back but it was changed to 3'. Still......most landscape beds are not even 3' from the property line. Take a look in your neighborhood. I've been noticing how close the borders are on so many neighboring home sites. I have no idea how the lawn companies get their large lawn mowers through the small space.

The landscaper I had at my home yesterday said my lawn cutters must drive their mower right over my landscape bed to get through. I have no idea why I didn't realize this was going to be a problem when we purchased this house. I guess I wasn't thinking that far ahead.

You have that backwards.....the landscape contractor told me he could not do the tiered wall and rock. He is losing out on this job because he told me the border would not be in compliance with ARC.

I might add, this landscape contractor is very well liked and respected in The Villages. I selected him from reading rave reviews about him and his company.

That was meant as a general comment for all people. Believe me there are many contractors who will say anything to get the job. Why do you think so many yards are out of limits.

This is a question I have been wondering about. We were told in April that the house structure, including roof over hang could not intrude into the set back area. These exist in the front, back and sides of the property. The set back distance varies depending on if it is front, rear or side. I believe these distances are different between designer and premier house lots. This op question actually asks what can be put in this set back area besides grass. Various walls and other landscape designs are clearly intruding into this area for most houses in the villages. I think of these set back zones as easements, for drainage and utility. Usually landscape material, grass and light plantings would be allowed in this type easement, something that could easily be removed if needed. I wonder if these walls meet that criteria? The mower consideration is another issue. It would depend on actual lot shape, but could be significant.

Sorry, I took that comment the wrong way. I do agree with you that so many companies are not informing their customers that a permit has to be obtained from the ARC. I can only assume so many home owners have no idea they are not in compliance with the rules of the minimum footage from the property lines. I can understand how adding a border to an existing landscape bed that was originally put in by the builder would seem OK to do. Not so.

The rules are that a landscape bed with mulch or pine straw must be a minimum of 2 feet from the property line. Add a border to the existing bed and the minimum must be 3 feet from the property line. Homeowners just don't realize this. This is why most of the homes with borders are not in compliance with the ARC.

My understanding is the walls are not in compliance with the ARC if they are installed less than 3 feet from the property line. I would venture to guess that a very large percentage of borders (tiered walls, concrete curbing and any other type of border that is there to hold in rock and mulch) are not in compliance.

I was told The Villages turn a blind eye and will not do anything about all the infractions to the rules. Having said that however......all it takes is for a complaint to be made against anything that is not in compliance; then the ARC will inform the homeowner to remove the structure. I was told that a homeowner had to remove a water feature because it was constructed in an area that was not in compliance with the ARC.

Thank you for your suggestion.

The Villages doesn't do anything about deed restrictions being ignored until someone reports it. Our next door neighbor was putting knick knacks and planting stuff on our property until we sold the house and they came to survey. He hadn't realized that land wasn't his and we didn't want to cause tension by pointing it out. It wasn't a big deal to us..

If you are confused by deed restrictions in the Villages, the VHA is sponsoring a deed compliance meeting to be held July 10 at 7 P.M. in the Eisenhower Recreation Center. This is the place to be with your questions.

I don't know how much you want to spend, but have you considered relandscaping to the extent that you could make the area smaller in order to have the tiered walls you want and conform to the regulations? It might be that you would have to remove the palms, but I imagine you would be able to get permission to do that because of the situation.

You may want to check
 

You should check. The people who did the work for you NEEDED to file a plan-that does not mean they did.
I read between the lines that your neighbor has complained to you. We had a similar problem with work that was done on our neighbors place. Neighbor was nice about it and told the worker to move it. The worker swore up and down about what an expert he was and he swore at me. HE WAS WRONG. The architectural committee-I CALLED THEM, handled it nicely. The worker had not filed a plan AND THEY FORCED HIM TO MOVE IT.

HOPEFULLY YOU HAVE NOT PAID IN FULL FOR THE JOB.


Re: rock mulch.
I would ask others before you do it. What they do is to put landscape fabric down to suppress weeds and then put the rocks on top of that. Like everything else there are pluses and minuses. When weeds do find there way through-and they will-it is far harder to pull them out.
Also, water-rain-has a harder time going through the landscape fabric.

You may want to stop by the cooperative extension and ask them for suggestions on what to use.
If, you are doing new planting-I would add organic matter-compost-manure-etc to the soil. What ever you think you need double it. You cannot add too much. You will be shocked how much difference it makes.