Cityscape

There is a lot going on in Healdsburg as we head into the summer months. The Tuesday concert series has begun, the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market is up and running, summer camps and classes are beginning, and swim lessons at the Healdsburg Swim Center are underway. You should also see a number of street projects underway, thanks to Measure V funding. The increase in road construction activity includes slurry seal, street rehabilitation and sidewalk improvements. Please visit our website for a complete list, www.cityofhealdsburg.org.
Water conservation continues to be at the top of everyone’s mind. On May 5-6, the State Water Resources Control Board met to finalize and vote on additional proposed restrictions and emergency regulations to curtail water usage of urban water suppliers. Most of these measures focus on reducing outdoor irrigation use, which is the number one residential water use in Healdsburg. The full text of the regulation can be found here: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/con
servation_portal/emergency_regulation.shtml
Based on a tiered water conservation standard, the city of Healdsburg was assigned a water reduction mandate of 24 percent. As a result, the city council adopted a resolution on May 18 that now only allows outdoor irrigation on Tuesdays and Fridays each week. Residents and businesses may only water from 8 p.m. to midnight and midnight to 7 a.m. on the assigned days. In order to enforce these new regulations, city staff will provide warnings with a door tag to properties who violate this mandate, but will ultimately issue fines of up to $1,000 per day for non-compliance.
To help with water conservation, the city has set up a number of workshops to help utility customers reduce outdoor irrigation. These workshops offer many water savings tips, some of which cost nothing to implement. Join us Wednesday, June 10 at the Community Development Center (CDC) from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for “Landscape Water Budgeting and Irrigation Efficiency.” Additional workshops will be provided throughout the summer and fall. Visit http://cityofhealdsburg.org/424/Water-Conservation for information on our upcoming workshops and water saving tips. You can also find a steady stream of information about conservation on the utility department’s new Facebook page called “Smart Living Healdsburg.” Be sure to like the page for regular updates.
The city council also increased the Lawn Conversion Rebate from 50 cents to $1 per square foot of turf removed and replaced with low-water and no-water landscaping. New conservation programs include irrigation audits that will improve the efficiency of your irrigation system and eliminate waste, and rebates for irrigation controls with advanced features to reduce water consumption. These two rebates will be very useful with increased outdoor water usage restrictions.
We have created two yard signs (24” wide x 18” high) that will be available this month to residents and businesses. For those of you simply allowing your lawns to brown, we have a sign that reads “Brown is the New Green.” For those of you who have converted your lawns to drought tolerant landscaping, we have a sign that reads “We Converted Our Lawn.” And finally, we will be posting a sign at all city parks and facilities informing our community that the city saved 35 percent in water in 2014 as compared to 2013 and is encouraging everyone to do their part in conserving water. If you would like to post a sign, please contact Meg at ml*******@ci.us.
We are excited to announce that the City of Healdsburg is launching a new website this month. You can expect improved design and functionality, as well as several new features. More details to come.
David Mickaelian is the Healdsburg city manager. To submit ideas or questions for this column, email ci*******@ci.us.