Novato, CA Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

Section 5-21.008(b)(5) is the Novato Municipal Code's vegetation clearance rule, and it attaches to development rather than to a yearly cycle. Any development or construction in areas the Novato fire district board has defined as high hazard fire areas must, prior to final clearance for occupancy or use, eliminate Scotch broom, madrone, coyote bush, chamise, manzanita, and other noxious or hazardous growth that poses a fire hazard. The distance is 30 feet from all structures, or up to 100 feet for extra hazardous conditions upon direction of the fire chief. Single specimen shrubs or trees are excepted. Upon direction of the fire chief, all trees must also be trimmed to achieve a minimum clearance of ten feet of the top of chimney flues.

The rule sits in chapter V, section 5-21 (Fire Safety), whose purpose is to minimize the hazard to life and property due to fire (section 5-21.006). Section 5-21.002 requires every affected permit or approval application to include fire safety provisions, and section 5-21.004 lists the affected processes: subdivision final maps and parcel maps, master plans, precise development plans, plan review, use permits, building permits, grading permits, and certificates of compliance.

The city defers to the Novato fire district. Section 5-21.008(a) recognizes the fire district as the agency responsible for fire prevention and fire fighting in the incorporated area, and requires all affected applications to be referred to it for review and comment. Related standards in the same section require fire-resistive roofing material for developments, including reroofing projects, in high hazard fire areas, as determined by the chief building official, with the areas more specifically defined on Map 3-2, "Hazardous Fire Areas," of the Novato General Plan. Street grades cannot exceed 18 percent, and single access streets such as cul-de-sacs cannot be longer than 800 feet.