The Ordinance Blog

Guides, explainers, and roundups on the local rules that actually affect your day-to-day life.

Arizona Pool Fencing Requirements by City: State Law and Local Rules in 2026

Arizona has the highest per-capita rate of residential swimming pools in the country, and drowning is the leading cause of death for children under five in the state. The Arizona Pool Safety Act sets a statewide floor for pool barriers, but every major city layers on stricter rules. This guide breaks down ARS Title 36 Chapter 17 and the specific code section that governs pool fences in Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, Scottsdale, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Peoria, Tempe, and Surprise.

May 19, 2026Swimming Pools

California Water Restrictions by City: What's Banned in 2026

California's water rules in 2026 are no longer an emergency patchwork: they are permanent statewide standards layered over wildly different city-level enforcement. From Los Angeles's two-day watering schedule to the looming 2027 ban on decorative grass, here is what every California homeowner, renter, and HOA needs to understand about which watering days, times, and turf are still legal in your city.

May 16, 2026Landscaping

Colorado Wildfire & Defensible Space Rules by County in 2026: Post-Marshall Fire

After the Marshall Fire destroyed 1,084 homes in a suburban Boulder County subdivision, Colorado rewrote how it thinks about the wildland-urban interface. From Louisville rebuild codes to El Paso County defensible space rules to the new state Wildland Urban Interface Code Board, here is what every Colorado homeowner needs to know about wildfire regulation in 2026.

May 13, 2026Fire Regulations

Florida Fence Height Rules by City: What You Can Build in 2026

Florida has no statewide fence height code. Every city and unincorporated county sets its own rules, and the four-foot front, six-foot rear default hides a thicket of corner-visibility, pool-barrier, coastal, and HOA exceptions. Here is the 2026 walkthrough of the state framework and the actual code sections in Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Tallahassee, St. Petersburg, and Cape Coral.

May 10, 2026Fences

Georgia Short-Term Rental and Tenant Rules by City: Atlanta to the Golden Isles in 2026

Georgia is one of the most landlord-friendly states in the country, with a thin statewide tenant code, a hard statutory ban on rent control, and a short-term rental landscape that the legislature has so far refused to preempt. The result: city ordinances do nearly all the heavy lifting, and the rules in Atlanta, Savannah, Athens, and the Golden Isles look almost nothing alike.

May 7, 2026Short-Term Rentals

Illinois Cannabis Dispensary Zoning by City: Where You Can (and Can't) Buy in 2026

Illinois legalized recreational cannabis on January 1, 2020, but the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act gave every municipality the power to ban dispensaries outright. Here is how Chicago, Aurora, Naperville, Evanston, and the rest of the state actually regulate adult-use, medical, and on-site consumption in 2026.

May 4, 2026Home Business

Massachusetts Tenant Protection by City: What's Banned, What's Local in 2026

Massachusetts has no rent control and no statewide just-cause eviction, but it does have one of the strictest security deposit laws in the country, a robust Sanitary Code, and an ongoing political fight over whether Boston, Cambridge, and Brookline can re-enact local rent stabilization. Here is how the framework breaks down city by city in 2026.

May 1, 2026Tenant Rights

Nevada Short-Term Rental Regulations by City: Las Vegas, Reno, and Beyond in 2026

Nevada short-term rental law is a story of one statute and ten very different cities. Assembly Bill 363 of 2021 set a statewide floor for licensing in counties over 700,000, meaning Clark County only, while leaving the rest of the state on the home-rule model. The result is a regulatory map where a license in unincorporated Clark County, the City of Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Reno, and Washoe County are all distinct legal instruments with different fees, buffer distances, and enforcement regimes. Here is how Nevada STR law actually works in 2026.

Apr 28, 2026Short-Term Rentals

New Jersey ADU and Affordable Housing Rules by City: The Mount Laurel Legacy in 2026

New Jersey is the only state in the country where a court, not the legislature, created the constitutional duty to build affordable housing. Fifty years after Mount Laurel I, the 2024 Affordable Housing Reform Bill rewrote the framework, but municipalities still control ADUs entirely. Here is how the Mount Laurel doctrine, COAH, and the new court-run round shape what gets built in Newark, Jersey City, Hoboken, Princeton, and the rest of the state.

Apr 25, 2026Accessory Structures

New York Short-Term Rental Rules by City: NYC Local Law 18 and Beyond

New York operates the strictest short-term rental regime in the United States, anchored by a state Multiple Dwelling Law that effectively bans most NYC apartment rentals under 30 days and a 2021 local law that requires every legal host to register with the city. Outside the five boroughs, rules vary city by city, from Buffalo and Rochester permit programs to outright bans in parts of the Hamptons. Here is how short-term rental law actually works across New York State in 2026.

Apr 22, 2026Short-Term Rentals

ADU Laws Coast to Coast: Where You Can Build an Accessory Dwelling Unit in 2026

Accessory dwelling unit law in 2026 is a study in divergence: a handful of West Coast and New England states now guarantee ADUs by right, while most Southern states still leave the decision entirely to local councils. Here is the full map of where you can build, what you can build, and what your city still controls.

Apr 20, 2026Accessory Structures

Consumer Fireworks Legality by State: The 2026 Map

Roughly 40 states now allow full consumer fireworks, seven limit you to sparklers and novelties, Rhode Island requires a permit, and two jurisdictions ban everything. Here is how the 2026 map actually looks, with statute citations.

Apr 19, 2026Fire Safety

Oregon Tenant Protection by City: Statewide Rent Control & Local Rules in 2026

Oregon was the first state in the country to cap rent statewide. SB 608, HB 4143, SB 282, and Portland's Title 30 relocation ordinance combine to give Oregon renters the strongest baseline tenant protections in America: but the local layer in Portland, Eugene, and Bend still matters. Here is the full map of what applies where.

Apr 19, 2026Tenant Protections

Pennsylvania Fence Height and Property Boundary Rules by City: The PA Legal Fence Tradition

Pennsylvania has no statewide cap on residential fence height, but it does have a 19th-century legal-fence statute still on the books, a spite-fence doctrine the Supreme Court recognized in 1895 and never abandoned, a 21-year adverse possession rule that swallows misplaced boundary fences, and an HOA preemption framework under the Uniform Planned Community Act that overrides everything else. Here is the 2026 walkthrough of 3 Pa. C.S.A. Section 951, the case law, and the actual fence codes in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, Reading, Scranton, Bethlehem, Lancaster, and Harrisburg.

Apr 16, 2026Fences

Beekeeping Legal Guide: Where Backyard Hives Are Protected vs Banned in 2026

Florida preempts every local beekeeping ban under §586.10, Georgia and Maine offer narrower protection, and most other states leave it to cities. Here is where backyard hives are protected, where they are regulated, and where HOAs can still shut you down in 2026.

Apr 15, 2026Animals

Tennessee Short-Term Rental Regulations by City: Nashville to the Smokies in 2026

Tennessee short-term rental law is governed by one of the strongest state preemption statutes in the country. The Tennessee Short-Term Rental Unit Act, passed in 2018 and codified at TCA §13-7-602 through §13-7-605, bars cities from banning short-term rentals while still allowing them broad authority over registration, taxation, and operating standards. The result is a market that is enormous in absolute terms, Nashville, Gatlinburg, Sevierville, and Pigeon Forge are among the most active STR markets in the United States, but governed by a tangle of city ordinances that diverge sharply on owner-occupancy, occupancy caps, and where non-owner rentals are permitted at all. Here is how Tennessee STR law actually works in 2026.

Apr 13, 2026Short-Term Rentals

Cannabis Local Zoning Map: Where Dispensaries Can (and Can't) Open in 2026

Cannabis is legal in 25 states, but whether a dispensary can open on your block is decided locally. Here is how the opt-in/opt-out systems, buffer zones, and zoning categories actually work in 2026.

Apr 10, 2026Cannabis

Texas ADU Rules by City: Where You Can Build in 2026

Texas has no statewide accessory dwelling unit law. Unlike California, Oregon, or Washington, the Texas Legislature has refused to preempt local zoning on ADUs: meaning the rules in Austin look almost nothing like the rules in Plano, Fort Worth, or Lubbock. This is the city-by-city guide to where Texans can legally build a backyard cottage, garage apartment, or granny flat in 2026.

Apr 10, 2026Accessory Structures

Washington ADU and DADU Rules by City: HB 1337 and the Two-ADU Rule

Washington passed the most aggressive accessory dwelling unit statute in the United States in 2023. HB 1337 forces every city and county inside an urban growth area to allow two ADUs on every residential lot, caps impact fees, voids most parking mandates near transit, and protects garage conversions from setback enforcement. Here is how the state law works and how Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Spokane, Vancouver, and the rest of urban Washington have rewritten their codes to comply.

Apr 7, 2026Accessory Structures

Dog Breed Restrictions: The Preemption Map for Pit Bull & Rottweiler Laws in 2026

Breed-specific legislation is preempted in 22 states, fully allowed in roughly 20 more, and still enforced in hundreds of individual cities. Here is how pit bull and Rottweiler law actually works in 2026.

Apr 5, 2026Animals

Can You Have Backyard Chickens? A City-by-City Guide

The rules for keeping hens at home vary wildly between cities. Some welcome small flocks with open arms. Others ban poultry entirely. Here is how to find out what your city allows.

Apr 4, 2026Animal Ordinances

Rent Control Laws State-by-State: The 2026 Guide

Only a handful of states actually cap rent increases, more than 30 states forbid their cities from trying, and the rest live in a legal gray zone. Here is the 2026 map of who can do what, and where.

Apr 4, 2026Rental Property Rules

What Time Can Construction Start in My Neighborhood?

That jackhammer outside your window at 7 AM might be perfectly legal, or it might be a code violation worth reporting. Here is how construction noise hours actually work.

Apr 3, 2026Noise Ordinances

Are Fireworks Legal in My State? The Complete 2026 Guide

Every Fourth of July, millions of Americans light fireworks without checking whether they are legal. The rules vary by state and city, and the fines can be steep.

Apr 2, 2026Fire Regulations

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