Resident wants Artificial Turf in Florida

September 2005 (Sun Hearld / By Steve Reilly) — Mike Onushco has an idea whose time may not come today, but he believes it may prove a good one in 20 years.

Onushco said Tuesday he plans to speak to the City Council today about allowing him to lay artificial turf in front of his Punta Gorda Isles home.

City codes require living grass in residential rights of way. Onushco would like the council to give residents an option -- use artificial turf instead of sod.

"A variance isn't really the answer," Onushco wrote in an e-mail to City Manager Howard Kunik. "I feel that everyone should have the option to use synthetic turf. If Punta Gorda codes preclude the use of synthetic turf in the right of way, then they are outdated and need to be amended."

Before Hurricane Charley hit a year ago, the home where Onushco lives with his wife, Debbie, had a lawn like most of their PGI neighbors. And like many other Punta Gorda residents, the Onushcos saw their home sustain its share of damage from Hurricane Charley. But as they began making repairs, the couple decided not to replant sod in their yard.

Instead, the Onushcos' front yard has been transformed into a river-rock garden with native and other low-maintenance plants. The back yard, between their pool and seawall, now sports a Jack Nicklaus-designed putting green of artificial turf.

"It's always green, and all I have to do is sweep it," Onushco said. But he also sees an environmental benefit to artificial turf, since it doesn't need insecticides or fertilizers.

The putting green sits on a bed of sand that Onushco described as having the consistency of the compact soils used beneath driveways. Rather than stormwater running off directly into the canal behind his home, he said, it would pool on top of the artificial turf and be absorbed into the sand beneath it.

"What you're looking at is actually nothing more than sand," Onushco said. He spent two years researching the various artificial turfs available and said the kind on his lawn costs $8 a square foot.

"And we had a sinkhole there," he said. "We'd fill it with dirt, and it would come back all the time. The (artificial turf) is just a glorified carpet, and water runs through it. It just doesn't wash away."

But more than anything else, Onushco said, artificial turf saves residents from having to water their lawns.

"Lawns are not indigenous to the state of Florida and require watering," he said. "And there's another issue. The lawn clippings blow into the canal, adding nutrients."

Onushco's idea might seem a bit unconventional now, but as water becomes more precious in the coming years, Onushco said, "(Artificial turf) is what the city will want. We need to address this. When you look at everything about (artificial turf), what it is and what it will do for the environment, it makes total sense."

But Onushco will have to convince council members.

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