La Habra, CA Landscaping Rules: Artificial Turf (2026)

La Habra's Water Efficient Landscaping and Water Conservation chapter, § 18.16.060.C, permits artificial turf in every residential, commercial and industrial zone, but only if it meets a detailed manufacturing and installation checklist. The turf must simulate live grass with a fescue look and a brown thatch layer, be a cut-pile infill product made of polyethylene or polypropylene with blades between one inch and one and three-quarter inches tall and a face weight of at least forty ounces, and carry a minimum ten-year "no fade" warranty.

It must meet or exceed the ASTM D2859 and federal DOC FF 1-70 flammability standards, sit on a permeable backing over a properly graded, compacted, porous crushed-rock subgrade with underground drainage piping to prevent pooling, and be anchored with seven-inch spikes every eighteen inches across the field and every four to six inches along the edges, with seams anchored every two to three inches so they are not visible. Installation is capped at a five percent maximum slope, must include a sand or coated-sand infill to keep the fibers upright, and must be separated from live planting beds by a concrete mow strip, bender board or similar border.

Before any installation, the property owner must submit material specifications and plans, including a landscape plan and a dimensioned cross section prepared by a licensed civil or soils engineer, to the chief building official and/or public works director for permit review under § 18.16.060.C.2. Once installed, § 18.16.060.C.3 requires the turf to be "maintained in a clean and attractive manner" at all times.