Artificial turf in Riverside Avondale, FL, for homes in the historic district.

Ask which review your turf needs before the old lawn comes up.

Riverside and Avondale share one City historic district. Jacksonville's code requires a Certificate of Appropriateness, on top of any permit, before any alteration affecting property in it, and work started without one can be stopped with a notice of violation (Ord. Code 307.106).

Routine lawn and landscape care is exempt, but new hardscape isn't (Ord. Code 307.107), and turf sits on a compacted stone base the code doesn't classify. The City's Historic Preservation Section runs the certificate process and can approve applications that meet its administrative criteria (Riverside Avondale Preservation). Ask it two things: does this need a certificate, and can staff approve it?

The district's guidelines are written from the sidewalk.

The City's August 1997 guidelines tie the certificate to changes seen from a public right-of-way, and list landscaping among the changes staff or the Commission may give a non-binding opinion on (Guidelines, Part 1). The code has been amended since, so treat that as intent, not a ruling.

They picture the front yard as small, with the house close to the sidewalk and a grass lawn crossed by a straight concrete or hexagonal-paver walk, and they ask that new plantings, fencing and walks fit the neighborhood in size, scale, materials and color (Guidelines, Part 2). A turf front lawn is the likeliest to get a closer look. The large back yard sits out of that view on most interior lots, which makes it the easier place for a lawn or a small putting green.

The guidelines also warn against removing historic walkways, fencing or trees before their importance is weighed, and ask that the rock-faced cast concrete retaining walls common here be kept. We cut the turf to meet them.

Put the dog run behind a six-foot fence and it drops out of the street's view.

Under fencing guidelines the Historic Preservation Commission adopted on 26 February 2003, a fence that follows them can be approved by staff (Fencing Guidelines). Back-yard fences go to six feet and front-yard fences to four, and a fence over four feet has to sit at least 20 feet back from the right-of-way of the primary front yard.

On an interior lot, pet turf behind a six-foot fence that starts behind the front wall of the house is out of the street's sight. A corner lot's two street sides are both held to four feet, so a side-yard run stays in view. If the run needs a new fence, put the fence and the turf in one request.

Staff approval takes a site plan and photos. A hearing takes signs and weeks.

For staff review, the 1997 guidelines ask for a site plan with the change marked on it, photos of the house from the street, and sometimes a sample or manufacturer's description of the material. The custom layout we draw after the free visit marks the turf's footprint and edges.

Applications staff can't approve go to a Commission hearing. The completed application has to be filed at least 21 calendar days before the meeting, you post signs no more than 200 feet apart on every street side at least 14 days before it, and the Commission decides within 30 days of the hearing (307.106). A staff decision can be appealed within 21 days, by you or anyone with standing (307.107). A certificate expires if work hasn't started within 12 months, or isn't finished within five years unless the Commission extends it.

Riverside's soil holds water near the surface. Avondale's lets it go.

USDA soil mapping splits the district. Near Five Points it's Urban land-Mascotte-Sapelo complex, 0 to 2 percent slopes, with both named soils rated poorly drained and a wet layer about 31 centimetres down, roughly a foot (USDA). In Avondale around St. Johns Avenue it's Urban land-Ortega-Kershaw complex, 0 to 8 percent slopes, where Ortega's wet layer sits about 147 centimetres down and Kershaw is excessively drained. In both, 35 percent is mapped as urban land rather than a named soil, so a dig can turn up old fill.

At the Riverside end, the base has to carry water off: the state standard requires a subgrade prepared for positive drainage, with no pooling and no added runoff onto a neighbor's lot (Rule 62-308.100), and the district guidelines want site drainage kept from running toward the house's foundation. Watering days and the 2026 shortage order are on our Jacksonville page.