Apple Valley, CA Landscaping Rules: Grass Height Limits (2026)

Apple Valley is a High Desert / Mojave community where dry vegetation is primarily a wildfire concern rather than an aesthetic one, so the Town does not publish a fixed maximum lawn height for ordinary turf. Instead, overgrown grass and weeds are controlled as fire and public-nuisance hazards. The Town's own published statutory-references page lists "Weed and rubbish abatement, Government Code section 39501 et seq." as the legal basis for clearing hazardous vegetation, and lists nuisance authority under Government Code section 38771 et seq. and Penal Code section 370 et seq. Fire-hazard vegetation standards in Apple Valley are set by the Apple Valley Fire Protection District (a separate special district serving the Town). The District's defensible-space guidance states that annual grass must be "mowed down to no higher than 4\"" and that all dead and dying weeds, grasses, and brush be removed. Property owners who receive a weed-abatement notice must clear the hazard; if they do not, the work is performed by contractor and billed to the owner, with an unpaid balance recorded as a lien. This is a hazard-abatement standard rather than a blanket height limit, so a watered ornamental lawn is not itself a violation.