Lake Elsinore, CA Landscaping Rules: Composting (2026)

Section 8.16.400 folds MWELO Sections 492.6(a)(3)(B), (C), (D) and (G) into city law for anyone seeking a building or planning permit, plan check, or landscape design review for a new single-family, multifamily, public, institutional, or commercial landscape over 500 square feet, or a landscape rehabilitation over 2,500 square feet. The landscape design plan's soil, mulch and amendments section must show compost incorporated at a minimum of four cubic yards per 1,000 square feet of permeable area, tilled to a six-inch soil depth, unless the existing soil already exceeds six percent organic matter in its top six inches, in which case compost and tilling are exempt.

Mulch must be applied at a minimum three-inch depth across exposed soil in planting areas, excluding turf, groundcovers and direct-seeded areas where mulch would interfere, though up to five percent of the landscape may be left unmulched and documented as insect habitat. Recycled or post-consumer organic mulch takes precedence over inorganic or virgin forest products unless unavailable locally, and organic mulch is not required where a local fuel modification plan or other ordinance prohibits it. If the state Department of Water Resources later tightens the MWELO's compost or mulch sections, the stricter state standard controls. Section 8.16.400 works alongside the city's separate water-efficient landscape chapter, 19.08 LEMC, and where the two conflict, § 8.16.400 governs.