Langford city council voted to remove the bylaw requirement for boulevards and frontages to be laid with artificial turf rather than sod during the Monday (March 20) council meeting.
The city began utilizing artificial turf on its boulevard frontages in 2017, with the change expected to lower maintenance costs, use of water and improve safety by requiring less time for maintenance workers.
But the city has not saved money by going with turf as expected, for a number of reasons.
Back in 2017, the city decided to split the cost of turf installation with developers due to the higher upfront costs – 65 per cent city paid, 35 per cent developer paid. But with costs rising, turf has gone up 64 per cent, jumping from $85 per metre squared to $133 per metre squared, whereas sod (while costs are up 50 per cent) comes in at $30 per metre squared. That means the cost for developers to pay 35 per cent of turf installation has exceeded the cost to pay for 100 per cent of sod installation – as was the rule previously – according to a city staff report.
Parks director Yari Nielsen said the number of maintenance visits for turf had turned out to be more than expected, hovering around six a year rather than the expected three. Cost-wise, those turf maintenance trips are equal to between 21 and 34 sod maintenance visits, meaning the sod area would get attention more often.
Ultimately, council voted to ask staff to remove the turf requirement during the next omnibus bylaw amendment. Once the change comes into effect, future developments will not be required to have turf frontages, but current turf frontages are still set to remain in place.
Nielsen noted turf may still be beneficial in some areas like busy roads, where doing maintenance work could pose a safety risk.
READ MORE: Langford says budget, field size partly why funding nixed for SD62 turf field
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