Calaveras County, CA Ordinances (2026)

Short-term rentals in unincorporated Calaveras County fall under the county's transient occupancy tax code because Chapter 3.12 defines 'hotel' to include any structure, including a…

In the Lake Tulloch area, Calaveras County caps short term vacation rental occupancy at two overnight guests per bedroom, plus two more per property, not counting children under three…

Anyone offering a short term vacation rental in the Lake Tulloch area must first obtain an administrative use permit under Chapter 20.20 of the Calaveras County Code. The permit runs…

Calaveras County imposes a transient occupancy tax of twelve percent on rent charged for hotel stays in the unincorporated county. Chapter 3.12 defines 'hotel' broadly to include…

Calaveras County bars commercial vehicles over 14,000 pounds gross weight from named residential streets in Valley Springs, Murphys, and the Lilac Park Subdivision, steering them to…

Calaveras County caps parking at two hours on designated stretches of St. Charles Street (State Highway 49) in San Andreas, and on Main Street between St. Charles and Court Streets…

Calaveras County treats abandoned, wrecked, dismantled or inoperative vehicles on public or private property as a public nuisance the planning director can abate. Abandoning a vehicle…

Calaveras County bans parking or leaving a vehicle on any public right-of-way, street or highway in the unincorporated county for 72 or more consecutive hours. The sheriff or CHP may…

Calaveras County runs an expedited local permitting process for electric vehicle charging stations under Chapter 15.11, adopted by Ord. No. 3077 in 2017. Small residential…

Calaveras County bans riding skateboards, rollerskates or similar devices on public highways, sidewalks or parking lots in a way that interferes with vehicle or pedestrian traffic, and…

Calaveras County bans smoking inside any building or vehicle the county owns or leases, and within twenty feet of a public building's main entrance, exit or operable window. The rule…

Calaveras County's Chapter 9.02 prohibits noise, commotion or sound from a party that breaches the Table 1 decibel standard, restricting parties to before 10:00 p.m. Sunday through…

Calaveras County requires solid waste customers to set containers within twenty feet of where the hauler's truck can park; multi-dwelling, commercial and industrial accounts get a…

Calaveras County does not run a universal curbside recycling mandate; instead, § 8.12.060.C requires new commercial, industrial and larger residential projects to build a paved…

Dumping solid waste anywhere except an authorized transfer station, disposal site or serviced storage container is unlawful under § 8.12.170. Violations are infractions escalating from…

Calaveras County bars solid waste collection before 6 a.m. or after 8 p.m. unless the board authorizes otherwise, and requires owners or occupants to have solid waste removed at least…

New commercial, industrial and larger residential projects in Calaveras County must build a paved, properly sized solid waste storage and collection area that a garbage truck can…

Calaveras County defines yard waste as clean vegetative matter like limbs, brush, grass clippings and leaves, and treats it as ordinary solid waste once it's mixed with other trash…

Calaveras County requires sound-amplifying equipment and live music to stay within the Chapter 9.02 decibel table measured at the property line, and any conflicting condition on an…

Calaveras County bars operating any loudspeaker, public address system or similar device between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. under § 9.02.050.D, a blanket nighttime curfew that applies on…

Calaveras County's Chapter 9.02 bars vessel or motor vehicle sound systems, whether built-in or portable, from being plainly audible inside an inhabited dwelling between 10:00 p.m. and…

Calaveras County exempts construction noise from Chapter 9.02's general prohibitions only during set daytime hours: work in or adjacent to residential areas is limited to 7:00 a.m. to…

Calaveras County caps exterior sound levels by land use and time of day under Chapter 9.02: 60 dBA daytime and 50 dBA nighttime for residential property, 70/60 for commercial, and…

Calaveras County treats a chronically barking dog as a public nuisance under Section 6.10.110. Once two or more households from separate homes have complained and a conviction or…

Calaveras County bars minors under eighteen from loitering in public places between 10:30 p.m. and daylight under § 9.08.020, with exceptions for minors accompanied by a parent, on an…

Calaveras County's recreation ordinance makes it unlawful to enter a county recreation area, or a portion the park manager has posted as closed, without permission. Unsupervised minors…

Calaveras County caps fence, wall, and hedge height inside sight-triangle zones at corner lots and driveway entrances under County Code § 17.16.140. Any obstruction taller than two…

Calaveras County makes it unlawful to cause or maintain a public nuisance on any property, defining nuisance to include junk, debris and junk cars visible from neighboring land. Code…

In Calaveras County's mapped hazardous fire areas, a permanent or portable barbecue, outdoor fireplace, incinerator or grill needs no burn permit as long as it sits at least fifteen…

Calaveras County requires a written burn permit from the county fire warden, CAL FIRE or the U.S. Forest Service before lighting any outdoor fire in a mapped hazardous fire area. Even…

Calaveras County makes the 2025 California Residential Code, including its smoke alarm mandate, locally enforceable countywide by adopting it wholesale at County Code § 15.04.020.C…

Calaveras County has adopted California defensible space law as county ordinance, applying it to anyone who owns, leases, controls, operates or maintains a building in or adjoining…

Calaveras County incorporates the 2025 California Building Code by reference at County Code § 15.04.030, formally adopting CBC Section 105 (Permits) along with related administrative…

Calaveras County adopts the 2025 California Plumbing Code, Part 5 of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, as its plumbing code for the unincorporated county rather than…

Calaveras County has no separate local electrical code: it adopts the 2025 California Electrical Code, Part 3 of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, as its electrical code…

Within Chapter 15.12, Calaveras County's rules for limited density owner-built rural dwellings, County Code § 15.12.310 requires carbon monoxide alarms installed per the current…

Anyone building or developing within a FEMA-mapped area of special flood hazard in unincorporated Calaveras County must first obtain a development permit under County Code § 15.06.043…

Every grading and earthwork project in unincorporated Calaveras County, permitted or not, must use best management practices to control erosion and sediment under County Code §…

New residential construction and substantial improvements in Calaveras County's mapped AE, AH and A1-30 flood zones must have the lowest floor, including any basement, elevated at…

Calaveras County bans discharging anything but stormwater into its county-maintained storm drains and the channels feeding them, covering oil, hazardous waste, sediment, pesticides…

Calaveras County caps outdoor light spilling onto neighboring property at 0.1 foot-candle at the property line, rising to one-quarter foot-candle between adjoining commercial or…

Section 17.16.100 bans mercury vapor and low-pressure-sodium lighting countywide to protect the night sky, and caps every other outdoor fixture at 3,500 Kelvin, or 5,000 Kelvin for…

Calaveras County sets minimum yard setbacks by zone in Table 17.05.030: 20 feet front (or 50 feet from the road centerline, whichever is greater), 10 feet interior side in the RR and…

Table 17.05.030 caps building height at 35 feet in the Rural Residential, R1, and R2 zones, and 45 feet in the R3 High Density zone. Section 17.16.090 lets antennae, chimneys, silos…

Calaveras County requires a written encroachment permit before anyone builds, digs, plants, dumps, or parks a structure within a public right-of-way in the unincorporated county. The…

Property owners and operators whose site generates more than incidental stormwater runoff must find and fix leaks, such as broken sprinkler heads, within seventy-two hours of learning…

Owners of ponds holding recycled water in Calaveras County may not let them discharge except when a twenty-five-year, twenty-four-hour storm event or larger forces an overflow. Even…

Calaveras County's Bee Industry ordinance, Chapter 5.08 of the county code, governs every apiary in the unincorporated county. Beekeepers must get the landowner's permission before…

Calaveras County doesn't ban any dog breed. Chapter 6.12 targets individual dogs based on documented behavior, letting the county petition the superior court to declare a dog…

Calaveras County residents may keep up to three dogs and four cats without a permit. Owning four or more dogs, or five or more cats, over four months old triggers a mandatory animal…

Calaveras County bars owners from letting a dog run at large: off the owner's property and not on a leash or under immediate control. Section 6.10.010 makes a first and second…

Calaveras County doesn't require every owned pet to be fixed, but two Chapter 6.08 provisions push hard toward it. Owners of an impounded, unaltered dog or cat pay an escalating fine…

Calaveras County caps backyard hens and rabbits at eight animals on an R-1 lot of at least 4,000 square feet, bans roosters, and requires a 30-foot setback from a neighbor's dwelling…

Calaveras County bars anyone from owning, keeping, harboring or possessing an unvaccinated Canidae capable of carrying rabies, but Section 6.14.060 carves out wild animals kept under a…

Calaveras County Code § 17.25.140 lets any residential unit in the unincorporated county host a home occupation, subject to a county business license and standards limiting the use to…

Home occupations and short-term vacation rentals in Calaveras County's residential zones may post one sign, but it must be single-sided, unlit, mounted on the residence itself, and no…

Family day care is a permitted, by-right land use across Calaveras County's zoning districts. County Code Table 17.04.020 lists 'Family Day Care' as a 'P' permitted use in all five…

Calaveras County Code § 17.25.140.C.5 caps on-site client visits to a home occupation at three people at any one time. Clients can only come by between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. on…

Sexually oriented businesses can locate only in Calaveras County's General Commercial (C2) zone, and only with a conditional use permit; Table 17.06.020 bars them outright from the…

Anyone who buys or transports scrap metal or junk in Calaveras County must register annually with the sheriff under Chapter 5.20, carry a written certificate proving it, and get a bill…

Under Calaveras County Code § 17.25.190, a parade covered by an approved road closure permit and not tied to a larger event is exempt from the county's special event permit, but any…

Restaurants, bars, and tasting rooms in unincorporated Calaveras County can serve customers in the public right-of-way under a five-year outdoor dining encroachment permit issued by…

Calaveras County Code § 17.25.130 requires every farmer's market operator to file a management plan approved by the planning director and to keep a market manager on site during all…

Temporary holiday displays and decorations are exempt from Calaveras County's sign permit and zoning-clearance requirements under Section 17.24.030(B), and they don't count toward a…

Yard, barn, and garage sale signs are exempt from Calaveras County's sign permit requirement, but only if they stay under 18 by 30 inches, go up no more than seven days before the…

Signs adhered to windows in unincorporated Calaveras County can cover up to 25 percent of the total window area on the building elevation where they're posted, and at that size they're…

Billboards in unincorporated Calaveras County are capped at 128 square feet and 20 feet in height, allowed only in the M2 zone with a conditional use permit, and can't use blinking or…

Calaveras County Code § 17.25.040 lets homeowners build one detached accessory dwelling unit up to 1,200 square feet, or convert space in an existing house or garage, on any lot zoned…

Detached accessory structures such as sheds, garages, and workshops must meet the development standards of their zoning district and normally need a related permitted main use on the…

Calaveras County requires the water-containing wall of any pool or spa deeper than 18 inches to sit at least 5 feet from every property line. Pool equipment and related structures must…

Calaveras County Code § 17.16.120 gives legally existing farms, ranches, orchards, livestock operations, row crops, and food processing precedence over adjoining residential and other…

Calaveras County declares that any legally existing agricultural use, farming, ranching, orchards, livestock, row crops, or food processing, has a right to operate free from nuisance…

Every landscape project installed in unincorporated Calaveras County, from new subdivisions to commercial parking-lot plantings, must meet the state's Model Water Efficient Landscape…

Calaveras County Code § 17.25.220.B.3.a confines mobile food vendors to non-residential zones only; operating in a residential zone is not permitted regardless of permit. Vendors also…

Mobile food vendors in unincorporated Calaveras County need a temporary use permit under Calaveras County Code § 17.25.220.B.3. A single lot can host only one vendor per day absent an…

Licensed cannabis retailers in unincorporated Calaveras County must sit at least 1,000 feet from any park, K-12 school, day care, youth center, or the County Central Library, measured…

Calaveras County bans cannabis retailers everywhere except the CP Professional Office zone, and even there a retailer needs a county administrative use permit and must sit at least…

Calaveras County lets solar energy systems into every zoning district, but the permit path splits by mounting type. Roof-mounted panels and ground-mounted arrays sited over a parking…

Anyone without a fixed county business or residence who goes house to house selling merchandise, taking orders or peddling subscriptions must register under Chapter 5.16. The fee is…

Calaveras County Code § 17.25.220.A.1 lets a resident hold a yard or garage sale of personal property without any use permit, capped at three consecutive days per sale and no more than…

Calaveras County's solid waste ordinance makes property owners responsible for storing and removing waste so it does not attract rats, flies or other vectors. Waste containing…

Calaveras County bans camping, encampments, or storing camp gear on public property within 25 feet of critical infrastructure or 30 feet of a wildfire or flood risk area during severe…