Shelby County has no ordinance banning or specially permitting artificial turf. Synthetic turf is not counted as living landscaping under the Unified Development Code, so required landscape and buffer areas must use real plant material.
No provision in the Code of Shelby County or the Memphis and Shelby County Unified Development Code prohibits a homeowner from installing artificial or synthetic turf, and no county permit is required for a residential lawn. However, on development sites the UDC's landscaping provisions (Section 4.6) are written around living plant material, drought-tolerant trees and shrubs, and cold-hardy species; synthetic turf is not recognized as meeting a required landscaping, buffer, or screening obligation. Artificial turf may be used decoratively but cannot substitute for the live trees, shrubs, and ground cover the UDC requires. Installers should still respect the county's stormwater provisions in Chapter 36 so impervious turf does not worsen runoff.
Using artificial turf on a private yard is not a violation. On regulated sites, counting synthetic turf toward a required landscape or buffer area does not satisfy UDC Section 4.6 and can trigger a correction order requiring live plant material.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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Shelby County operates its own parks, and county park land such as Shelby Farms Park and the Greenline is generally open sunrise to sunset. State-run Meeman-...
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In unincorporated Shelby County, the Unified Development Code (UDC 4.7) requires regulated outdoor lighting to minimize light trespass and obtrusive light on...
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In unincorporated Shelby County, the Unified Development Code sign chapter treats garage and yard-sale signs as temporary signs. They may advertise a lawful ...
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In unincorporated Shelby County, the Unified Development Code sign chapter (UDC 4.9) allows any permitted sign to carry a lawful noncommercial message, inclu...
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Unincorporated Shelby County has no separate tiny-home ordinance. A permanent tiny house is regulated by the Unified Development Code as a single-family dwel...
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