Artificial turf in St. Augustine Beach, FL, for sand, salt and full sun.

Keep the route from the door useful.

On a narrow lot, choose the area for everyday lawn use, pets or a simple putting line before adding features. Leave room to stand, walk and reach services. The finished edges against paths, beds and fencing should be clear in the estimate.

For a rental or part-time home, plan who handles debris removal and pet cleanup. Full-sun areas can become hot, so consider when the space will be used and access to shade.

Check coverage and trees together.

St. Augustine Beach is a separate city from St. Augustine and has its own coverage and tree requirements. Its published code sets a 40% impervious limit for low-density residential property, but the wording does not alone establish how every synthetic-turf system is classified. Obtain the City’s answer for your proposal.

The City also requires review for tree removal. Keep existing trees in the layout and resolve any applicable root or drip-line requirements before preparation. Bring the City and community conditions to the visit before the footprint is finalized.

A 0.40 cap, and a base that doesn't eat into it.

St. Augustine Beach limits how much of a lot can be impervious: 0.40 in low-density residential areas, 0.50 in medium density, and 0.70 in high density and commercial (St. Augustine Beach code). Whether a turf system counts against that 0.40 is the first design question on almost every lot in the city.

The city's stormwater definition of impervious area leaves out all lawns, landscape areas and gardens (St. Augustine Beach Code Sec. 15-17), but it doesn't say whether artificial turf is a lawn. On a lot near its cap, ask the city in writing before you commit to a layout, and put the turf on an open, free-draining base rather than compacted fines, so rain keeps soaking into the ground.

Trees need a permit too. The city requires a Tree Removal Permit before any tree is cut down, destroyed or moved, and it has adopted an Urban Forestry Standards and Specifications Manual. We draw the layout around the trees you keep.

The narrow 50-footer, or a real back yard.

The city covers about 2.17 square miles between the Atlantic and A1A, north to Pope Road, and most of its homes went up in the late 20th century (Wikipedia). Low-density lots start at 7,500 square feet, with setbacks of 25 feet in front, 10 at the sides and 20 at the rear. The older platted lots, 50 by 93 feet, get 20, 7.5 and 20, which leaves a small back yard.

Associations vary. Much of the older grid has none, while pockets such as Sea Colony, the city's only private gated oceanfront neighborhood, Anastasia Dunes, Island Hammock, Ocean Palms and Seagate have their own rules. Where an HOA governs, Florida law confines its reach to turf visible from the frontage, a neighboring parcel, a common area or a community golf course (Fla. Stat. 720.3045).

Beach sand on coquina, and hardly any shade.

Under most yards is barrier-island sand sitting right on coquina shell rock, on ground that's close to flat. Salt blows in off the Atlantic, the wind buries the crown of the grass in sand, and the sun does the rest. Water poured on a sod lawn drains straight through, so it drinks and still looks tired.

Turf stays green in full sun, but full sun heats any surface. Plan shade for the corner the dog or the kids use most in summer (how hot turf gets).

If the house is a rental, or you're here only part of the year, a lawn is one more thing to manage from a distance. Turf needs no watering day, no mowing and no fertilizer, and your renters can't forget to water it.