Tuolumne County, CA Landscaping Rules: Artificial Turf (2026)

The Tuolumne County Ordinance Code contains no chapter or section that specifically regulates artificial or synthetic turf. The relevant landscaping rule, in the County's Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (Chapter 15.28.040(F)), restricts living turf for covered projects: 'Turf areas shall be prohibited except for functional recreational areas.' That provision targets high-water-use natural lawns, not synthetic turf, and the ordinance does not list synthetic turf as a prohibited or specially permitted material. The WELO does address impervious and pervious surfaces in its stormwater and grading provisions (Section 15.28.160 and the landscape design plan requirements), encouraging pervious or porous surfaces that minimize runoff and increase infiltration; a synthetic-turf installation with proper drainage and a permeable base fits that goal. Because there is no county artificial-turf ordinance, homeowners in unincorporated Tuolumne County are generally free to install synthetic turf in residential yards, subject to ordinary building, grading, drainage, and setback standards and to any HOA rules. For covered development projects, the landscape plan should still demonstrate that surfaces and drainage meet the County's stormwater and water-efficiency objectives. State water-efficiency policy generally treats synthetic turf as a non-irrigated, water-saving surface rather than something to be banned. There is no documented Tuolumne County prohibition on artificial turf.