Encinitas Ranch has over 29 acres of common areas that need to be maintained and refreshed. 12.5 acres of the 29 acres represent large slopes which take considerable time and resources to keep in good condition and for formal brush management.  Since the community assumed responsibility for maintaining all of the common areas there has been an understanding that maintenance of the ground cover on the slopes was very resource intensive and trees on the slopes were requiring more trimming as time went by.

With the objective of optimizing our limited landscaping resources the landscaping committee developed a long term strategy several years ago to remove high maintenance ground cover on the slopes with low maintenance drought tolerant landscaping. Secondly, they adopted a plan to plant small patio size trees on the slopes that were more disease resistant, grew less tall and required less tree trimming. This strategy was reviewed and approved by the board in 2022. Since then, this strategy began to be implemented on the interior slope between the north ends of Jensen Court and Lynwood Drive and will be continued south on the slopes below Lynwood Drive then throughout the remainder of the community. In the first few years the focus will primarily be on interior slopes then transitioning to the large exterior slopes. This is a years long strategy but the Landscaping Committee and board believe that this will in the end reduce water bills, tree trimming expenses and allow the community to focus on other high impact and visibility common areas.

Homeowners may notice work on the interior slopes in the next few years and hopefully this article will provide some context around the changes underway.