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

Merced County's Unified Development Ordinance does not contain an explicit artificial-turf provision in Chapter 18.36 (Landscaping). The chapter is written around living material - for example, Section 18.36.050(A) requires 90 percent drought-resistant, climate-appropriate or naturally occurring plants, and Section 18.36.050(B) caps natural turf at 30 percent of the landscaped area and lets groundcover include rocks, gravel or wood mulch/chips. Because synthetic turf is not specifically called out, the practical rules are: (1) for a homeowner at an existing residence, installing artificial turf in the yard is generally a low-impact improvement and not separately regulated by the landscaping chapter, though drainage and any structural/base work should comply with grading and stormwater requirements; and (2) for permitted development, artificial turf typically is not credited as the required living/drought-tolerant landscaping or as the stormwater-managing planting the code calls for, so a project may still need qualifying plants, trees and screening. Artificial turf can support the County's broader water-conservation objective and the state MWELO framework (Section 18.36.030) by reducing irrigation. Heat, runoff and material quality are the main practical concerns. Because the code is silent on synthetic turf, anyone using it in a permitted project should verify with Merced County Planning whether it counts toward landscape coverage and how it interacts with the turf cap and drainage standards.