El Dorado County, CA Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

020 limits that requirement to specific use types: industrial, research and development, commercial, multi-unit residential, civic, or utility projects. Within a covered project, the required landscaping only applies to portions of the lot that are not building footprints, sidewalks, driveways, parking, decks, patios, or hardscape, and the Section expressly carves out "other non-irrigated areas designated for non-development," giving "open spaces and existing native vegetation" as its own examples. That means a developer can leave native plant cover in place on undeveloped portions of the site and count that area toward compliance rather than installing new plantings there.

Where a Water Efficient Landscape Plan is required under Government Code Sections 65591 through 65599, the same native-vegetation area still counts toward compliance rather than needing supplemental irrigation. 020 only lists commercial and higher-density use types, a single-family home builder never triggers the landscape-plan requirement at all, so retaining native brush, oaks, or grasses on a residential lot needs no landscaping permit or plan under this Chapter, though separate defensible-space and oak-tree preservation rules can still apply. 030 further exempts most commercial uses on agricultural, rural, and resource-zoned land, except for shading and screening standards on permanent paved parking lots facing a public road.