Doral, FL Landscaping Rules: Artificial Turf (2026)

Section 71-225 permits artificial turf subject to obtaining homeowner association and city approval and maintaining ongoing compliance, and limits installation to single-family and multifamily MF-1 zoning districts plus public parks, private parks, schools, and recreation uses. Section 71-226 sets the minimum requirements: turf may be used in front, rear, and side yards as part of the overall landscape design, but commercial or recreational installations require a building permit. Placement within the adjacent right-of-way of local or collector streets needs a separate right-of-way permit from the public works department, and the homeowner or homeowner association bears the cost of restoring turf disturbed by city or utility work.

Landscape permit plans must include turf specifications and percolation rates for review by the planning and zoning department, and the owner must sign an affidavit agreeing to perpetually maintain the system so it stays permeable. Rubber infill is banned except for institutional recreational uses like playgrounds and athletic fields, the turf must be lead-free, and indoor or outdoor plastic or nylon carpeting cannot substitute for real synthetic or natural turf. Section 71-227 adds installation and maintenance standards: turf must be anchored against wind, separated from soil by a solid barrier like a concrete mow strip, installed carefully around existing tree roots, kept free of weeds and debris, replaced with matching materials if it degrades, and it can never be installed within a drainage feature such as a pond or swale. The backing must be pervious and, under (a)(9), is treated as 100 percent pervious area with permeability equal to or greater than natural grass.