Bakersfield, CA Environmental Rules: Defensible Space (2026)

Chapter 17.66 creates the HD (Hillside Development) combining zone, an overlay applied to hillside parcels generally having average natural slopes of eight percent or more, adopted to protect the public 'from the threat of wildfire, hillside instability and landslides' (§ 17.66.010). Within that overlay, § 17.66.150 sets the defensible-space standard: property owners must 'maintain around and adjacent to any such building or structure a firebreak made by removing and clearing away for a distance of no less than thirty feet on each side thereof or to the property line, whichever is nearer, all flammable vegetation or other combustible growth.' The section carves out a narrow exception for 'single specimens of trees, ornamental shrubbery, or similar plants which are used as groundcover,' as long as they do not act as a fuel bridge that could rapidly carry fire from native growth to a structure.

The requirement works alongside the chapter's companion fire-hardening rules for the same HD parcels: § 17.66.120 requires Class A or Class B noncombustible roofing and bans wood shake or shingle roofs, and § 17.66.140 directs tract and parcel maps to carry an advisory notice recommending fire-resistant landscaping. Because HD applies only to mapped hillside parcels, not the city generally, flat-land Bakersfield properties are not subject to the thirty-foot clearance; the rule is triggered by the HD zoning overlay shown on the parcel's zone designation, applied when the city reviews grading, building permits, subdivision maps, or conditional use permits for that property.