Any plan will tackle two main points: the removal of artificial turf<\/a> and the need for more trees citywide.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to city municipal code<\/a>, artificial turf is allowed to cover up to 50% of a person\u2019s yard under certain conditions<\/a> meant to manage runoff. But it\u2019s officially not allowed along public rights-of-way like medians and parkways, the strip of lawn between a sidewalk and street that private property owners must maintain.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite these prohibitions, city officials say they lack the time and staffing to enforce the parkway provision or regulate yards of single-family homes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have a mechanism to enforce it today,\u201d said Christopher Koontz, director of Long Beach Community Development.<\/p>\n Decorative turf became popularized statewide as Californians were told to cut back significantly on water use, pitched as a cheap route to an eternally green lawn that saved water, but it\u2019s brought other problems, neighbors say.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Some residents<\/a>, environmentalists and coaches urged the city to take action, claiming<\/a> turf \u2014 which is made of plastic blades that mimic the look of grass and often sit on a layer of crumb rubber \u2014 is expensive to maintain<\/a>, fails to collect groundwater and exposes children and pets to harmful \u201cforever chemicals<\/a>\u201d that break down into microplastics that enter storm drains.<\/p>\n It also raises street temperatures, they wrote, contributing to the prevalence of \u201cheat islands<\/a>,\u201d or stretches of land with little to no shading or natural grounds to absorb sunrays. Some cited research<\/a> that artificial lawns can reach temperatures in excess of 160 degrees \u2014 hot enough to burn skin or paws.\u00a0<\/p>\n Residents in the Willmore City neighborhood say they\u2019ve spotted nearly 50 areas where artificial lawn has been rolled out on a parkway.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ryan Wolfe, president of the neighborhood\u2019s association, said they have brought 120 new trees to Willmore City using funds through the Inflation Reduction Act. There are another 450 spots, he said, where they could really use a tree for shading.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trees planted under or near artificial turf have died, Wolfe said, as the plastic covers the critical root zone of a tree, robbing it of water. \u201cNow there\u2019s just tree stubs left over,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a big issue for us,\u201d Wolfe said. \u201cOur community is 80% renter, it\u2019s a disadvantaged community by the city\u2019s classification, the state\u2019s classification. It\u2019s old building stock (and) many of our neighbors are elderly, low-income or disabled and do not have air conditioning in their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n Upon approval of a plan, local environmentalists say they would hope to incentivize landlords to swap out their artificial lawns with real ones using subsidy programs like the city\u2019s native plant parkway program.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we could go to these property owners, and say, let\u2019s take out your artificial turf,\u201d Wolfe said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/artificial-turf-151768-kzkjlibf-574254-Ag55W7GK.png\")
An example in City Council documents shows what could replace artificial turf along city parkways, where it\u2019s banned.<\/p>\n