For HOA commercial customers of the City of Tucson Water Service that want to replace high water-use plants and turf with native and desert-adapted, low water-use plants.
APPLICATIONS ARE NOT YET OPEN - WE ARE CURRENTLY REVIEWING OUR INITIAL PILOT PROGRAM AND UPDATING AS NEEDED
What are the goals of the program?
The initial goal is to provide a financial incentive to motivate HOAs that have a predominance of high water-use plants or turf to get started on transforming their landscapes - which begins with a Landscape Design Plan.
Program Outline/Guidelines (5 Phases):
Communication, education and PLANNING are critical. These guidelines are meant to assist the HOA board to successfully navigate through the transformation process.
Phase One
Outreach, Education, Application
- The UArizona/Pima County Cooperative Extension/Smartscape Program (sponsored by City of Tucson Water) will provide:
- Outreach support, education resources/materials regarding the program’s objectives and benefits to HOAs and Property Management companies. Click here for details.
- 3-part Smartscape HOA community education course (board representative attendance required before an HOA applies for the program).
- Application - See "How to Apply - Preview"
- Review and acceptance by Tucson Water
- Letter of Understanding between Tucson Water and HOA Board
Phase Two
General Consensus (Majority Agreement) - After an HOA has applied for and been accepted into the program.
- The HOA board selects a Landscape Transformation Project Manager/Champion (PM).
- PM could be, for instance:
- Provided by the landscape design/architecture firm (in which case Smartscape certificate is optional).
- HOA board member or resident with expertise. Smartscape certificate required
- Property mgmt. representative. Smartscape certificate required
- Landscape construction or maintenance professional. Smartscape certificate required
- PM could be, for instance:
- Smartscape provides, to the PM, tools to facilitate community discussions, surveys, consensus building and goal setting.
- PM sends out a resident survey and works with the HOA to reach majority agreement and set goals that will be used to create a Design Plan (Phase Three).
Phase Three
Team Selection and Design Plan
- The HOA will select the:
- Landscape Architect/Designer
- Landscape Installation Contractor (or may be design/build)
- Landscape Maintenance Contractor (Smartscape certificates required).
- All contractors must meet the following
- RFP & Contract templates provided by Smartscape.
- Professional review of Requests for Proposal, Scopes of Work and contracts required and provided by Tucson Water.
- Landscape Architect/Designer creates the Landscape Design Plan that will be used to develop a Phased Implementation Plan (Phase Four).
- Funding is released to the HOA by Tucson Water upon completion of the Landscape Design Plan.
Phase Four
Implementation
- Designer or builder works with HOA and PM to create the Phased Implementation Schedule based on the Landscape Design Plan.
- PM and HOA will implement the phased plan for Construction, and Maintenance.
- Professional review of Requests for Proposal, Scopes of Work and contracts required and provided by Tucson Water.
Phase Five
Follow-Through and Follow-Up
- The PM will monitor contractors to ensure they are meeting performance targets and expectations.
- Smartscape will provide select further education/training if needed, i.e., for volunteer landscape maintenance review committees and (regularly scheduled) Smartscape: A Training Program for Landscape Professionals and Advanced Smartscape courses.
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Ongoing monitoring of water-use and maintenance practices must show measurable reduction in water-use.