09 • 25 • 2014
South Jersey - No Sod and Sprinklers in Planting Strip
The South Jersey Chapter helped defeat an effort to require sod and sprinklers in the planting strip in Ocean City, NJ. This is the area between the sidewalk and the street. Ocean City is a barrier island, a place where grass does not grow well naturally, and a place that suffers from coastal flooding.
A South Jersey Chapter activist, Bill Stuempfig, was excited to apply Ocean Friendly Gardens principles in his family's property in Ocean City, NJ after he created an OFG at his primary home. But while rebuilding after Sandy, he found out the town required sod grass and sprinklers in front yards. In the process he also found out that Ocean City was trying to make sod and sprinklers a requirement in the planting strip as well. He spoke out at a City Council hearing on the ordinance and brought solutions in the form of OFG principles for the town to consider. The City pulled the proposed ordinance.
