Glendale, CA Landscaping Rules: Artificial Turf (2026)

010(B) is Glendale's dedicated artificial turf standard for the single-family ROS, R1R and R1 zones, and it goes well beyond the state HOA landscaping statute in specificity. Turf counts toward the 40 percent total landscaped-open-space requirement, but it does not count toward the separate live-plant-material calculation, so a yard cannot be entirely turf and call itself compliant. It cannot be installed beneath a tree's drip line, defined in the section as the canopy's mature-growth extent plus two feet, to protect root zones. A minimum three-foot-wide strip of live plant material is required along the street front and street side property lines, and turf is off-limits on any part of the yard sloped 25 percent or steeper.

The turf itself has to look real: a minimum three-color blend that is predominantly green, blades at least one and one-half inches long with spines and uneven tops, and infill made of a natural material such as coconut fiber, cork, or sand. Crumb rubber infill is banned outright. Elsewhere in the same subsection, the code requires a state-licensed landscaping or synthetic-products contractor to do the installation, on-site drainage to a permeable area, and ongoing maintenance free of holes, tears, stains, discoloration, seam separations, uplifted surfaces, heat damage, or excessive wear; painting turf or dirt to fake a green lawn is separately banned under subsection (G) of the same section.