Chelan County, WA Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)
Key Facts
- Preference
- Native, drought-tolerant vegetation over lawns
- Technique named
- Xeriscape water-conserving design
- Design style favored
- Informal, naturalized plant groupings
- Plan approval
- Hearing examiner or administrator sign-off
- Governing section
- Chelan County Code § 11.76.090(7)
- Open space minimum
- 15% residential, 10% commercial PUD sites
Summary
Chelan County's planned unit development standards, at Chelan County Code § 11.76.090(7), push native, drought-tolerant landscaping over lawns in every PUD's common open space. The rule favors informal, naturalized plantings that still buffer incompatible land uses, especially at the county's rural PUD sites.
Landscaping and/or Native Vegetation. It is the intent of this section to maintain and encourage landscaping design, innovation, and flexibility. The arrangement of plantings in conjunction with other landscape elements will vary according to the requirements of each project. Less formal grouping of materials, especially in rural areas, is encouraged to accomplish a more naturalized appearance and to avoid linear and visually rigid design. Such groupings must still accomplish the intended required buffering between incompatible uses. Native drought tolerant vegetation, in lieu of lawns, and other water conserving design techniques (xeriscape) are greatly encouraged.
Full Breakdown
Subsection (7) of Chelan County's PUD development standards addresses landscaping design directly, stating the county's intent to encourage design, innovation and flexibility rather than a single rigid formula. Planting arrangements are expected to vary by project, and the code specifically favors 'less formal grouping of materials, especially in rural areas,' aimed at a naturalized look instead of straight, visually rigid rows of plantings, so long as the arrangement still delivers the buffering required between incompatible uses elsewhere in the title. ' A cross-referenced note attached to the same subsection requires that all common open space within a PUD be landscaped or vegetated with native vegetation consistent with the landscaping plan the applicant submits and the hearing examiner or administrator approves, unless the PUD's authorizing resolution allows otherwise.
That plan must also show any natural features slated for preservation, including indigenous plant life, natural rock formations and riparian areas, so the county can track what's being kept rather than replaced. The native-planting preference sits alongside the broader common open-space rules in subsection (8), which require PUD open space to run at least fifteen percent of a residential project's site and ten percent of a commercial or industrial site.
Violations & Fines
Because the native-vegetation language is framed as encouragement rather than a numeric mandate, the county doesn't cite a PUD for choosing turf over xeriscape. What is enforceable is the landscaping plan itself: the hearing examiner or administrator must approve it before final PUD approval, and the plan's commitments to preserve natural features and vegetate common open space with native plantings become binding once the PUD is approved, enforceable the same way as any other condition attached to the final development plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Chelan County require native plants in a PUD landscaping plan?
Can a PUD in Chelan County use informal, natural-looking landscaping instead of a formal design?
What happens to existing natural features like rock formations on a PUD site?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Chelan County
Compare Chelan County to another location·View the Washington landscaping rules overview
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