West Jordan resident, city clash over 'desert lawn'

WEST JORDAN — Three years ago, Alexandra Eframo noticed her neighbors were using a lot of water: Sprinklers kept their lawns a deep green in the middle of July, and gutters swelled with runoff from hoses used to clean cars.

So, she turned off her sprinklers and let her lawn die.

Now, the 73-year-old West Jordan resident is intent on establishing her "desert lawn," a yard filled with waterwise and drought-resistant plants that never see a drop of water except when Mother Nature decides to send rain.

And she said it's paying off. Before changing her water-using ways, Eframo's monthly water bill was more than $100. Now, she said, she has it down to about 85 cents.

But she's hit a roadblock.

In October, she was given citations from city prosecutors, accusing her of violating city codes on landscape plants and ground coverage.

Her neighbors, she was told, had complained her yard was ugly and was deteriorating their property values.

"Well, that's a matter of opinion," she said. "I love it. They said my yard looks horrible. Well, it's my desert lawn in progress."

Aspen trees in her yard, left by the previous owner of her home, have begun sprouting new saplings, likely as a response to the decreased water they've been receiving. She sees the little trees as an answer to her prayers after a dispute with a neighbor brought down a fence in her front yard. But the city sees them as violating a code that requires trees to have a minimum 2-inch diameter.

Currently, she has about 160 plants — about 30 different varieties — in her yard, including ice plants, woolly thyme, clumping baby's breath and pink passion and sapphire flowers — just about anything she can find at a local nursery with the label "drought-resistant" or "waterwise" on it.

But the city says she doesn't meet requirements on ground cover, vegetation types and other city codes. The way she reads the city code, however, she believes the rules only apply to new developments and exempt single-family homes.

Besides, she said, "I think this is going to look pretty whenever it's all done."

So the retired Delta Air Lines employee is taking her citations to the city's justice court. She plans to fight the charges in court, all the way to trial if necessary. Most residents, she said, would just pay the $750 in fines and get into compliance with city code, but Eframo said she is fighting for a principle.