Landscaping Rules in Ventura County, CA (2026)

Cal. Pub. Resources Code § 4291

4291. (a) A person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a building or structure in the state responsibility area shall at all times do all of the following: (1) (A) Maintain defensible space of 100 feet from each side and from the front and rear of the structure, but not beyond the property line, except as provided in subparagraph (B). The amount of fuel modification necessary sha...

Ventura County Ordinance Code §§ 8178-7.2, 8178-7.5.1

8178-7.2 - Applicability. This Section 8181-7 applies to the alteration, transplantation, or removal of every tree within the coastal zone. ... 8178-7.5.1 - Planned Development Permit. No person shall remove, alter, or transplant a protected tree without obtaining a Planning Director approved Planned Development Permit, unless it is exempt from a permit (pursuant to Section 8178-7.5.3) or requi...

Cal. Code Regs. tit. 23, § 490 et seq. (Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance)

About 40% of the water Californians use at home is used outdoors. Large water savings can be gained by efficient landscape design, installation, management, and maintenance. This is accomplished by choosing climate adapted plants, improving soil conditions, using, and maintaining high efficiency irrigation equipment and managing the irrigation schedule to fit the plants water needs as they are ...

California Water Code §§ 10570-10574 (Rainwater Capture Act of 2012, AB 1750)

This part shall be known, and may be cited, as the Rainwater Capture Act of 2012. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) As California has grown and developed, the amount of stormwater flowing off buildings, parking lots, roads, and other impervious surfaces into surface water streams, flood channels, and storm sewers has increased, thereby reducing the volume of water all...

California Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO), CCR Title 23 § 490 et seq.

About 40% of the water Californians use at home is used outdoors. Large water savings can be gained by efficient landscape design, installation, management, and maintenance. This is accomplished by choosing climate adapted plants, improving soil conditions, using, and maintaining high efficiency irrigation equipment and managing the irrigation schedule to fit the plants water needs as they are ...

California Civil Code § 4735

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, a provision of the governing documents or architectural or landscaping guidelines or policies shall be void and unenforceable if it does any of the following: (1) Prohibits, or includes conditions that have the effect of prohibiting, the use of low water-using plants as a group or as a replacement of existing turf. (2) Prohibits, or includes conditions that ha...

California SB 1383 (Lara, 2016) — Public Resources Code Chapter 13.1, §§ 42652-42654

(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (1) Short-lived climate pollutants, such as black carbon, fluorinated gases, and methane, are powerful climate forcers that have a dramatic and detrimental effect on air quality, public health, and climate change. (2) These pollutants create a warming influence on the climate that is many times more potent than that of carbon dioxide....