8 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 1 city in Yakima County, Washington.
Verified from official government sources
Yakima County treats overgrown grass and weeds as a nuisance, requiring vegetation be cut to no more than twelve inches. Enforcement runs on complaints during the May 1 to September 30 season. The City of Yakima uses its own property maintenance code.
No Washington statute limits pruning trees on your own Yakima lot, and this arid, light-canopy county has no general trimming permit. The City of Yakima controls street trees and requires you keep limbs clear above sidewalks and roadways.
The City of Yakima and Yakima County require no permit to remove a tree on your own established residential lot. In this arid, light-canopy region, tree-removal rules are far lighter than western Washington. Street trees remain city-controlled.
Yakima County makes noxious-weed control mandatory. Under state law and the county Noxious Weed Control Board, owners must eradicate Class A weeds and control listed Class B and C species. This is a real, enforceable duty backed by abatement and liens.
Yakima County 2018 Noxious Weed List & Control Policy
LANDOWNERS are responsible for the control of noxious weeds on their property as per RCW 17.10.140 prior to blooming stage, seed maturity and the development of a root system that would enable said weeds to propagate and spread.
Water is Yakima's defining issue. Washington follows prior appropriation, and the Yakima River Basin is fully appropriated and adjudicated. Irrigation districts deliver seasonal water by seniority, and junior rights face curtailment in drought years.
RCW 90.03.010
Subject to existing rights all waters within the state belong to the public, and any right thereto, or to the use thereof, shall be hereafter acquired only by appropriation for a beneficial use and in the manner provided and not otherwise; and, as between appropriations, the first in time shall be the first in right.
Rainwater harvesting is legal across Yakima County. Washington's Department of Ecology allows rooftop collection without a water right, so rain barrels and cisterns for the garden are permitted. In the dry valley, captured rain is a useful irrigation supplement.
Yakima's arid climate makes native and drought-tolerant landscaping a natural fit, and no local rule forces a grass lawn on an existing lot. You may plant native shrub-steppe species freely, but listed noxious weeds must still be controlled.
RCW 17.10.140(1)
Every owner must perform or cause to be performed those acts as may be necessary to: (a) Eradicate all class A noxious weeds; (b) Control and prevent the spread of all class B noxious weeds designated for control in that region within and from the owner's property; and (c) Control and prevent the spread of all class B and class C noxious weeds listed on the county weed list as locally mandated ...
Yakima County and the City of Yakima do not regulate artificial turf on an existing residential lot, so installation is largely up to the owner. As a water-saving alternative it suits the arid valley. HOA covenants are the main limit.
1 cities in Yakima County have their own landscaping rules rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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