A homeowner in Melbourne’s west is fighting a council order to replace his property’s synthetic grass with a natural lawn, saying he has a “busy lifestyle” and wants a “low maintenance” front yard.
Maribyrnong city council in February ordered Fadhullah Yusof, a West Footscray resident, to rip up the artificial grass in his front yard and replace it with real lawn, saying it was a breach of the site’s planning permit.
The council says it prohibits synthetic grass in publicly visible areas of development, due to it containing petrochemicals and lacking biodiversity compared with real plants.
But Yusof said he had been unaware he had breached council’s regulations because he had never received anything in writing, prior to February, about the ban.
Speaking to The Age, Yusof said he lived a “busy lifestyle” and had the natural grass laid by developers at the property he bought in 2022 was dying.
“I feel it’s going to be a bit more stylish looking for the house with the low maintenance. I can do medical procedures but I’m not much of a handyman,” he told The Age.
Yusof lodged an application with Vcat in June for a review of the decision, but Vcat member Margaret Baird struck it out due to it being lodged too late after council sent Yusof the remedial letter.
Yusof told The Age he planned to file another application for review.
The letter, sent on 26 February 2024, said the artificial grass, with no trees or other approved plants, was not compliant with three conditions in the planning permit and landscape plan for the site.
It requested he replace the synthetic grass with “natural lawn and planting as approved by the landscape plan” before 31 March.
It said the council had determined not to take any further enforcement action if Yusof complied with the request.
“Should a further contravention or failure to comply with the Maribyrnong Planning Scheme and/a planning permit(s) occur this caution should not be relied upon as a more strict approach will be adopted in such circumstances,” the letter said.
His application argued council had not provided anything in writing which specified artificial grass was not permitted.
He said the council had not provided him with the landscape plan when he brought the property in November 2022.
“How should I know the details of the landscape plan to maintain on my own property,” his application said.
The council’s chief executive, Celia Haddock, said a 2020 planning permit for the construction of four dwellings at the site, required a landscape plan.
“The landscape plan showed ‘lawn areas’ in the front yard of dwelling 1,” Haddock said.
Haddock said council inspected the site in 2022, as part of an application for subdivision, and discovered the artificial plastic turf had been installed “in contravention of the approved landscape plan.”
“A Planning Contravention Notice was issued, requiring the land owner to remove the artificial turf and replace it with lawn, as per the approved plans,” she said.
Haddock said under the council’s 2006 landscape guidelines, 2018 urban forest strategy and 2020-2025 climate emergency strategy it prohibits artificial turf in publicly visible areas of a development.
“It is derived from petrochemicals, increases the urban heat island in the warmer months, and lacks the biodiversity requirements of real planting,” she said.
“The owner of the land can seek an amendment to the permit to allow an alternative landscape arrangement such as a drought tolerant native and indigenous plantings, rather than lawn.”
