DID YOU eliminate too much of this to fight the drought? The Garden Grove City Council will consider landscaping rules on Tuesday (Flickr/CameliaTWU).

The lingering California drought has led many homeowners to cut back on watering their lawns. Some have even gone so far as to eliminate their lawns. That may be going too far for the City of Garden Grove.

When the City Council meets on Tuesday it will take up the matter of how much landscaping should be on the front lawn of a single family home in the city. Currently, city codes require that “all unpaved areas shall be planted with an effective combination of trees, grass, berms, ground-cover, lawn, shrubbery and/or dry decorative landscape material” and cover at least half of the front yard.

According to a report from Community and Economic Developer Lisa Kim, “there has been an increasing number of homeowners who are replacing all or most of their required front yard landscaping with crushed rock, cement pavers and/or concrete paving.” The report goes on to note while the use of the rock and pavers aren’t prohibited, they shouldn’t cover more than half the yard and totally replace planted material.

The city council will be asked to maintain the current landscaping regulations and make it clear that dry decorative materials be allowed as part of a front lawn but not required as part of the landscaping.

Also Tuesday night, the council will be consider a proposed extension on a citywide moratorium on new mortuaries and crematories extending the current 45-day ban to 10 months and 15 days. A planned mortuary on Garden Grove Boulevard near Fairview Street brought protests from nearby businesses and residents.

The moratorium would give city staff time to draw up permanent zoning regulations regarding such businesses.

The council will meet at 6:30 p.m. in its chambers at the Community Meeting Center, 11300 Stanford Ave.