Corona del Mar Today: On San Joaquin Hills Road, dying turf means dyeing turf

To comply with a recent governor’s order, the city of Newport Beach has turned off water to center medians with turf. But city staff isn’t quite ready to see the grass wither and turn brown — not if a little bit of green dye can do the trick.

“We’re trying to work on a plan for all our medians,” said Public Works Director Dave Webb. “The water has been turned off, but who wants a bunch of dead grass there?”

So on June 13, Webb said, crews will use a green vegetable dye on 118,000 square feet of turf in the median of San Joaquin Hills between Jamboree Road and MacArthur Boulevard. The dye, he said, would last for three to four months and cost about $3,000.

“Here’s a way we can do something at a low cost, and it will give us a bridge,” he said.

The governor’s order, issued April 1, required the city to immediately stop using potable water on grass turfs, and the water has been turned off on those medians, including Irvine Avenue, San Miguel Road, Ford Road and Avocado Avenue, Webb said.

City staff immediately began to develop short- and long-term plans to convert those medians to be drought-friendly, while also saving trees that are allowed to be watered.

Irvine Avenue is scheduled for repaving, Webb said, and staff may ask the City Council to increase the budget for that project to include landscaping improvements that would add native and drought-tolerant plants as part of the work.

The increase, he said, could be an additional $700,000.

But developing landscaping plans, and finding funding for the changes in the other turf medians, will take time, he said.

Meanwhile, the summer heat will be turning grass brown.

“San Joaquin is so big and will take a lot of resources” to change, he said. “The vegetable dye is what they use on golf courses. It will let the grass stay green for several months, into the fall, without water or mowing. It will get us through summer, through August at least. We’re working on how to keep the medians in good shape until we plan and until we can get to it.”

Meanwhile, Webb said, other medians might be covered with mulch when the grass turns brown.

Staff has been working to figure out how to water trees, which are allowed to be irrigated under the governor’s order, perhaps by changing irrigation systems to an aboveground bubbler, or with different sprinkler heads.

“We definitely want to protect trees during the drought,” he said. “They are a big investment.”

The city also owns turf-covered medians around Newport Center, but the Irvine Co. is responsible for their maintenance.

Irvine Co. spokesman Bill Lobdell said they also considered green dye, but ultimately decided against it.

“New state regulations ban the use of potable water to irrigate turf in street medians,” he said. “In Newport Center, we looked into the use of biodegradable dye to temporarily keep the median turf green while exploring other landscaping options with the city of Newport Beach. The Irvine Co. won’t be using this temporary solution for the median turf.”

Company officials are considering a variety of water-conservation options, Lobdell said, including changing landscaping, switching to more efficient irrigation systems, reducing evaporation in fountains and importing recycled water.

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Shop to import yogurt from Greece

A yogurt shop that imports yogurt from Greece, along with biodegradable terra-cotta serving pots, will be opening in a new building at 3500 East Coast Highway, according to signs recently placed in the windows.

Another sign advertises Red Fox, a women’s clothing boutique with the Facebook slogan the “cutest little store in Laguna.”

A search of Newport Beach business licenses online did not show information on either business. But according to the Go Greek yogurt website, the business currently has a location in Beverly Hills, and a Red Fox Facebook page indicates that there is a boutique located at 1500 South Coast Highway in Laguna Beach.

Go Greek offers parfaits, yogurts and frozen yogurts made with yogurt imported from Athens and flown to Southern California, the company’s website states.

“The reason we go through this painstaking process is because the yogurt just comes out better this way,” the website states. “We come from Greece and expect a taste and quality of our Greek Yogurt which is not available here in the States.”

An adjacent shop will be occupied by a boutique called Red Fox Good Clothes, which carries brands like Minkpink, For Love & Lemon, Splendid, Lovely Bird Hats and more. The business’ webpage says a website is coming soon. A message seeking opening date information was not immediately answered.

The businesses will be opening in a newly constructed building that was formerly the location for Newport Floor Coverings. Demolition and construction began in July.

Corona del Mar Today appears Sundays in the Daily Pilot. Read daily updates at coronadelmartoday.com.