CORINTH — City Council members on Thursday asked staff to take another look at the draft ordinance they submitted, which takes up ornamental grasses and other water-wise landscaping choices. The council is examining the issue after neighbors complained about one homeowner’s front yard with tall native grasses, bringing the issue to the forefront.

DRC file photo/Al Key

Wendy and Paul Leung crouch Sept. 14 in the xeriscaped front yard of their home on Westwind Drive in Corinth.

Native grasses use less water and are drought-tolerant, but their height is often jarring to those used to manicured lawns.

Several council members were troubled by a 25 percent coverage limit for ornamental grasses in the front yard, saying it seemed to be at odds with the council’s intent in writing a new ordinance that protects xeriscaping.

“If it’s for water conservation purposes, then why the 25 percent limit?” council member Ronnie Glasscock asked.

In addition, council member Paul Ruggiere questioned the  proposed ordinance’s impact, saying that he had driven around Corinth looking at water-wise lawns in anticipation of the evening’s discussion. He said he was concerned the new requirement could negatively affect many property owners.

“The place that caused this whole thing to start with has more like 70 percent coverage,” Ruggiere said.

He was referring to Paul and Wendy Leung’s home in the Windstone subdivision. The couple told the city this summer that they would neither pay a code enforcement ticket, issued in June, nor cut their ornamental grass anymore. The showdown had been coming for some time, since the couple’s professionally designed and installed landscaping, with many native and drought-tolerant plants, got city approval about seven years ago.

The city amended its weeds ordinance in October, unanimously approving an exception to its 6-inch height limitation for well-maintained xeriscaping, ornamental and native grasses. The height limitation still applies to turf grasses as well as anything growing on the outer, 5-foot perimeter of a front lawn.

But the council also called the exception a temporary fix and directed city staff to do more research. Council members wanted a separate section in the ordinance for water-wise landscaping.

City Planner Fred Gibbs told the council that after the October meeting he met with two Corinth residents with horticulture backgrounds to study water-wise choices and sample ordinances. Their recommendation included definitions that separated turf grasses and their maintenance from other water-wise plantings, which includes ornamental grasses. They proposed keeping turf grasses at the 6-inch height limitation.

Gibbs also told the council that it could expect additional water-wise landscape requirements as the city overhauls ordinances for its Interstate 35E business district, or “overlay” district.

Council member Shannon Bryan said she was concerned that the ornamentals still had no height restriction, but Gibbs cautioned the council, saying that could require a book-length list of acceptable plants.

Wendy Leung, who was not present at the meeting, said she is glad the city is still working on the issue, as long as it doesn’t table it indefinitely.

“It’s a courageous move,” she said.

Mayor Vic Burgess noted the council’s motion, which specifically tabled the matter to a future date, and scheduled another hearing on the ordinance for the council’s regular meeting Jan. 18.

“My wife will have my neck if we have to thin our ornamental grasses,” Burgess said. “That’s part of her landscaping.”

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com.