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L.A. Residents Can Now Make Their Parkways More 'Green'
via City of L.A.
Until last week, you could only plant -- without a permit, that is -- grass or trees in a parkway, that strip of land between the sidewalk and the street. Thanks to a vote by the Board of Public Works last month, the cookie cutter look is no longer Los Angeles residents' only choice when they want to improve their home sans permit.The new rules found in L.A.'s Residential Parkway Landscape Guidelines (.pdf) now contain 20 drought tolerant turf species and substitutes that can be planted without obtaining a permit, according to the LA Times. Now a variety of grasses, flowers and edibles like creeping thyme and beach strawberries.
Parkways are public property, but must be maintained by homeowners. "A lot of people look at the parkways as an extension of their frontyard, and it really has a different purpose and therefore has to be held to a different standard," the city's landscape architect, Lance Oishii, told the Times.
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