Thurston County, WA Ordinances (2026)

Backyard beekeeping is allowed outright on residential lots in unincorporated Thurston County if the hives are registered with the state and kept within set limits.

Thurston County bars dogs from running at large and requires leash or voice control off the owner's property, with escalating infractions for violations.

Thurston County does not ban owning venomous reptiles, large constrictor snakes or primates, but it heavily regulates them. County Code Section 9.10.040(J) requires owners of…

Thurston County requires anyone who owns, maintains, or operates a pet shop to first obtain a pet shop license from the county auditor under Code Section 6.80.020. Applications cost a…

Thurston County sets no flat cap on pets, but four or more adult dogs bred or kept at a residence becomes a "hobby kennel," triggering an annual county permit and per-dog licensing.

Thurston County requires pets adopted from the county animal shelter to be sterilized within the timeframe set in the adoption agreement, unless a veterinarian recommends otherwise.

Thurston County has no breed ban: dogs are declared potentially dangerous or dangerous based on documented behavior, not breed.

Thurston County treats microchipping as optional, not mandatory. County Code Section 9.10.040(C) allows tattooing or microchip implantation as an auxiliary identification method for a…

In the unincorporated Lacey urban growth area, cows, horses, sheep and standard goats can't go on residential lots under one acre; on larger lots, livestock is capped at one head per…

Thurston County licenses cats much like it licenses dogs: Section 9.10.040(E) sets annual fees of $18 for an unsterilized cat and $10 for a sterilized cat or kitten under six months…

Thurston County's Title 23 zoning code defines pet grooming as a personal service, and Tables 6.01 and 5.01 permit personal services outright (P) in all five commercial districts and…

In the unincorporated Olympia urban growth area, a veterinary office or clinic is permitted outright in the General Commercial and Arterial Commercial districts and needs a special use…

Thurston County confines all camping, including unauthorized encampments, to campsites the parks director has specifically designated and posted inside county parks, per Code Section…

Thurston County exempts a retaining wall from the building-permit process only while it stands four feet or less from the bottom of its footing to the top of the wall, per Code §…

In Thurston County's Village Center zoning district, walls and fences must match the main building's style and materials: highway-style guard rail, stockade construction, and security…

Thurston County's zoning code defines a fence as a "structure," so putting one up without a permit from the planning department is a code violation, not a gray area.

Within Thurston County's Village Center zoning overlay, fences top out at six feet in side and rear yards behind the front building line, and four feet forward of that line and along…

Thurston County bans loitering that blocks a doorway, sidewalk, street or alley. County Code Section 10.48.010 makes it unlawful to stand or loiter in a building entrance, or on a…

Thurston County makes it a crime to urinate or defecate in public: Thurston County Code § 10.88.040 says a person is guilty if he knowingly does so in a public place other than a…

Thurston County bans smoking, vaping and marijuana use across its entire park system: Thurston County Code § 10.76.430 makes it unlawful to smoke or use tobacco, vaping or marijuana…

Thurston County declares any party of four or more people where minors drink or use marijuana a public nuisance, with fines for whoever hosts or controls the property.

Thurston County prohibits smoking, vaping, or using marijuana products in any county park, park preserve, or trail under Chapter 10.76 of the Park Code, backed by a misdemeanor penalty.

Thurston County bans opening or drinking alcohol in county parks except in designated campgrounds, picnic areas, or licensed concession buildings.

Developers must retain or replant trees to average 100 tree units per acre, with 30% of landmark trees and 70% of heritage trees kept on site.

Thurston County doesn't mandate rainwater harvesting, but it rewards it. TCC § 15.06.020 defines rainwater harvesting as collecting roof runoff for uses like landscape irrigation or…

Thurston County has no general lawn or grass height limit for improved parcels; its weed ordinance instead targets designated noxious weed species. Chapter 17.30 lets the county's…

On county-run water systems, sprinkler and irrigation use is banned during active firefighting and outdoor watering can be curtailed anytime the department decides it's needed.

Thurston County's noise ordinance exempts car alarms and other warning devices from its public disturbance noise limits, but only for the first thirty minutes. County Code Section…

Thurston County caps gas and diesel generator noise at 55 dBA from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and 45 dBA overnight, measured at the nearest property line or public right-of-way, under County…

Thurston County lists significant buildings, structures, objects, sites and districts on its own Thurston County Historic Register under County Code Chapter 2.106. Any owner or the…

Thurston County requires automatic fire sprinklers in every Group R (residential) building built under the International Building Code, per TCC § 14.32.130 amending Fire Code §…

Thurston County requires an electrical permit before altering, adding to, or replacing electrical systems regulated under Chapter 14.19, the county's amended Existing Building Code…

Thurston County adopts the Uniform Plumbing Code as its plumbing code under TCC § 14.28.010, administered by the Community Planning and Economic Development Department. All plumbing…

Thurston County requires a permit before you erect, move, add to, or structurally alter any building or structure outside city limits, and the permit can't issue unless the zoning use…

Building permit applications in Thurston County are sorted into a Type I ministerial review or a Type II administrative review, and once construction starts, each stage of work must be…

Thurston County bans social card games at any premises under TCC 6.60.015 unless the game is regulated by the Washington State Gambling Commission. Commission-licensed card games are…

Thurston County requires an operational permit under Fire Code § [A] 105.6.27 before installing any LP-gas system, administered by the Community Planning and Economic Development…

Thurston County restricts consumer fireworks to two dates a year: discharge is legal only from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on July 3 and again from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on July 4, under County Code…

Every manufactured or mobile home installed in Thurston County must have an approved smoke detector meeting International Residential Code § R314, under TCC § 14.44.030(B). If the home…

Thurston County requires two feet of freeboard above the base flood elevation for new construction and substantial improvements in special flood hazard areas. TCC § 14.38.050(B)(1)(a)…

Thurston County caps warm-up idling at 10 minutes for most vehicles and 20 minutes for commercial diesel vehicles under its noise code.

Thurston County bans new boat launching ramps, piers, docks and floats in estuarine wetlands and Category I wetlands outright. On lakes with Category II, III or IV wetlands, they can…

Thurston County requires construction and site development to follow its 2022 Drainage Design and Erosion Control Manual under TCC Chapter 15.05, enforced with civil infractions.

Thurston County requires any development in a designated floodplain or flood hazard area to go through the county's Critical Areas Ordinance review process, not just standard zoning…

Thurston County regulates stormwater and erosion through the county's Drainage Design and Erosion Control Manual, adopted by reference in full under Code Section 15.05.010, currently…

Anyone buying, selling, trading or storing secondhand goods, antiques or junk in unincorporated Thurston County must hold an annual dealer license from the county auditor under Chapter…

Thurston County requires a $300-a-year business license for any massage parlor or public bathhouse, plus a separate $50-a-year employee license for every masseur and attendant, under…

Thurston County outlaws body studios and on-premises dating services outright under TCC 10.80.010: no permit or license path exists, unlike the county's separately regulated massage…

Thurston County bars marijuana producers, processors and retailers from locating within 1,000 feet of any WAC 314-55-050(10) youth-congregating entity, including schools, arcades and…

Thurston County has not opted out of state-legal marijuana: Thurston County Code Section 20.63.040 permits producers and processors only in the Planned Industrial Park, Light…

Thurston County allows billboards only in its Arterial Commercial, Highway Commercial, Planned Industrial, and Light Industrial districts, and Code Section 20.40.033 strips that…

Thurston County treats a political yard sign as a temporary noncommercial sign under Code Section 20.40.040. On private property in a residential zone it is capped at five square feet…

Thurston County's Lacey UGA sign code bans off-premises billboards outright, along with animated and flashing signs, so digital billboards cannot be permitted anywhere in that…

Thurston County caps garage-sale advertising at two off-property signs, both postable only on the day of the sale and removable immediately afterward, under TCC 6.30.020. The same…

Inside the Grand Mound Urban Growth Area's Arterial Commercial, Planned Industrial, and Light Industrial districts, Thurston County's design guidelines cap window signage at thirty…

Thurston County places no time limit on holiday lighting or seasonal decorations in the unincorporated Olympia Urban Growth Area. Section 23.42.020 of the Olympia UGA Zoning Ordinance…

Thurston County requires every private swimming pool to sit outside a required yard and be enclosed by a fence or other barrier at least 42 inches tall with a self-latching gate, per…

Thurston County waives the building permit for a prefabricated swimming pool only when it is accessory to a house, holds under twenty-four inches of water, caps out below five thousand…

Thurston County allows irrigation with Class A reclaimed water at agronomic rates across all critical aquifer recharge areas under TCC 24.10.190, but infiltrating reclaimed water above…

Within the Olympia Urban Growth Area, Thurston County requires street trees as part of frontage improvements on qualifying development under Code Section 23.36.060(G)(3), with species…

Thurston County requires 70% retention of heritage trees (40+ inch DBH or culturally significant) on forest-practice development sites under TCC 17.27.400.

Thurston County shields established farms and forestry operations from nuisance lawsuits under Chapter 20.61 of the county code. Section 20.61.020 presumes that agricultural activities…

Thurston County's Long-Term Agriculture District, created under Chapter 20.08A, makes farming the primary use of the land and caps residential density at one dwelling unit per twenty…

Thurston County designates its own transfer stations and drop-box facilities as the only lawful places to dispose of solid waste generated in the county, under Code Section 8.34.030…

Dumping solid waste anywhere except a designated county transfer station or drop-box facility is unlawful, and Thurston County backs the ban with civil penalties tied to the size of…

In Thurston County's Mixed Use corridor zone, trash and recycling containers must be screened and can't sit between the street and a building's front.

Thurston County sets the minimum recycling collection service every unincorporated household must receive under Code Section 8.24.020, with separate urban and rural service levels…

Thurston County assigns its residential recycling collection program to five certificated solid waste haulers rather than running curbside pickup itself, under Code Section 8.24.040…

Unincorporated Thurston County has no curbside bulky-item pickup: residents self-haul large items and bulky waste to the county's WARC transfer station or drop boxes, where the…

Thurston County's Light Industrial District zoning code requires refuse containers to be screened by landscaping or matching materials at least six feet high, and bars placing…

Thurston County's solid waste code does not stand in the way of recycling: Section 8.34.050 confirms the chapter never prohibits or inhibits recycling or reclamation done at sites that…

Thurston County accepts yard and garden trimmings at the Waste and Recovery Center in Lacey for a per-ton fee; residents must separate leaves, clippings, and branches from other trash.

Thurston County allows a cottage housing development to exceed its underlying zone's density by fifty percent under Code Section 20.38.030(B)(1), but only if every dwelling in the…

Thurston County Code § 14.16.140 decides when a mobile food or beverage unit needs a building permit. A unit stays exempt from Chapter 14.17's building-permit process only while it…

Thurston County Code § 23.06.060(V)(2)(d) treats a mobile sidewalk food or beverage stand as a temporary use limited to the Olympia urban growth area's commercial zoning districts…

Thurston County requires anyone peddling goods or food on public streets, sidewalks, or door-to-door in unincorporated areas to hold an annual $25 peddler's license issued by the…

Thurston County does not require a building permit for a residential rooftop photovoltaic solar installation that complies with International Residential Code section M2301.2, per Code…

Thurston County Code Chapter 14.22 declares any building the building official finds dangerous a public nuisance and orders it repaired, rehabilitated, demolished, or removed under §…

Thurston County caps outdoor sound at 45 dBA from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. at neighboring property, dropping from the 55 dBA daytime limit.

Thurston County exempts yard maintenance equipment, including leaf blowers, from its noise limits only between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.; outside that window the county's dBA limits apply.

Thurston County caps industrial and commercial noise at the property line using Washington's state EDNA noise classes, not a flat local decibel number.

Thurston County requires a permit before holding any outdoor music festival outside city limits, with mandatory distance, hours, and safety conditions.

Thurston County exempts construction-site noise from its public disturbance noise limits only between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.; outside that window construction sounds lose the exemption.

Thurston County makes a "nuisance pet animal" a code violation: Section 9.10.030 defines the term as a pet that habitually or continually disturbs the peace of any person or…

Thurston County requires every motor vehicle on a county highway to run a muffler in good working order at all times, banning cut-outs, bypass pipes and similar devices. The same…

Thurston County lets residents store operable RVs, boats and trailers on their property as long as the vehicles don't block right-of-way or sightlines and aren't used as living…

Thurston County lets residents keep operable trucks, trailers, and RVs on residential property under TCC 21.57.060, as long as they don't block the right-of-way or sightlines.

Any Thurston County driveway or parking area serving more than four vehicles must be hard-surfaced: asphalt, concrete, permeable pavement, or similar, built durable and dust-free and…

In Thurston County's Neighborhood Commercial zoning district, County Code Section 21.36.070 lets a business double up its required parking as loading space. Subsection B allows parking…

Thurston County limits how long a junk vehicle can sit outside on residential property. Zoning Code Section 21.57.060(C)(1) bars storing junk vehicles, inoperable appliances or other…

Thurston County bars stopping, standing, or parking in intersections, crosswalks, sidewalks, and within five feet of driveways or fifteen feet of fire hydrants on county roads outside…

Thurston County allows electric vehicle charging stations as an accessory use in every zoning district, from single-family garages to commercial parking lots near Interstate 5.

Thurston County bars minors under 18 from public places between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. unless accompanied by a parent or on a direct errand.

Thurston County parks close nightly under Thurston County Code § 10.76.200: by default they're open only from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., though the county's public works director can post…

Thurston County caps garage sales at three consecutive days and two sales per address in any twelve-month period, with sheriff notification required.

Thurston County caps industrial noise, including data center cooling and generator equipment, at the property line under the state's WAC 173-60 environmental noise standards.

Thurston County's zoning code requires any operation that produces intense heat or glare to run inside an enclosure built so the light cannot be seen from any point along the property…

Thurston County's Village Center Ordinance requires site lighting in the Lacey Urban Growth Area to limit glare and sky glow, banning noncolor-corrected low-pressure sodium and mercury…

A home occupation sign in unincorporated Thurston County is capped at two square feet under Code Section 21.75.180(B)(2), must be flush-mounted against the building rather than…

Thurston County lets home-based businesses see customers on-site, but the traffic that brings creates the tightest tier of its home occupation rules. Once a business fails the by-right…

Thurston County allows home occupations by right in any residential district, but bars exterior alterations, outdoor storage, signage, and outside employees: stricter setups need site…

Family day care homes are a permitted use in every residential-allowing zone of the Lacey UGA, no special permit needed.

Thurston County sets yard setbacks by zoning district under Title 21. In the Low-Density Residential District 0-6, single-family lots need a 16-foot front yard, 5-foot sides, and a…

In Thurston County's Low Density Residential District 0-6, the maximum building height is 25 feet, set by the development standards table in Code Section 21.12.050. Building height is…

In Thurston County's unincorporated Low-Density Residential District 0-6, Code Section 21.12.050 caps building footprint at 50% of the lot and total development coverage, every roofed…

Unincorporated Thurston County levies a 2% excise tax on short-term lodging charges, including hotels, motels, tourist courts, and campgrounds.

Religious services and group rallies in a Thurston County park require advance written permission from the county's public works director under Thurston County Code § 10.76.330, and…

Thurston County requires advance permission before holding a religious service or group rally in a county park. Section 10.76.330 of the Park Code lets these gatherings use park…

Unincorporated Thurston County requires a county auditor license before anyone runs a circus, carnival, or public exposition for profit, charging $25 per operating day plus a $100…

In Thurston County's Village Center zoning district, restaurants may run outdoor cafes on sidewalks and in the public right-of-way, but a 5-foot pedestrian path must stay clear at all…

In Thurston County's high-density residential zoning, a one-story accessory building under 200 square feet that's exempt from a building permit gets reduced setbacks: 10 feet front, 3…

Thurston County caps accessory dwelling units at 850 square feet and allows only one ADU per lot with a single-family home.

In rural unincorporated Thurston County, converting an existing garage or other internal or detached space into an accessory dwelling unit has no size cap as long as the work stays…

Peddlers in unincorporated Thurston County must hold a county-issued license, with a flat $25 annual fee set by ordinance under state law.

Thurston County requires a rights-of-way permit before anyone builds a driveway, sidewalk, frontage improvement, or utility installation within a county road right-of-way.

In unincorporated Thurston County, owners of urban-frontage property must maintain the sidewalks abutting their land within the right-of-way, not the county.

Thurston County requires a rights-of-way use permit before any work, fill, or materials are placed in county roads, sidewalks, or other rights-of-way, and expressly defines obstructing…

Thurston County does not print a fixed list of banned invasive plants in its own code; instead it defines a 'noxious weed' as any plant on the county noxious weed list adopted under…

Thurston County requires cyclists on a roadway to keep right and ride no more than two abreast, and mandates using an adjacent bicycle path instead of the roadway wherever one exists…