Commerce City, CO Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

Section 6-2012(b)(1) sets the general weed and grass maintenance duty at eight inches for developed property and small lots, and sixteen inches for larger undeveloped land, but subsection (d) carves out four exceptions to that duty. The first is ornamental grasses. The second is wetlands. The third, and the one that matters most for a native or low-water yard, exempts "native grasses and other native plant materials identified in the city's approved plant list" from the height-maintenance requirement entirely, meaning a homeowner who plants from that list does not have to mow it down to eight inches like turf grass.

The fourth exception covers a public right-of-way strip adjacent to property that has been actively farmed with commercial crops for the last three years, is larger than an acre, and lacks curb, gutter and sidewalk. Outside the nuisance code, the Land Development Code reinforces the same policy direction for new construction: section 21-7511, Water Conservation Requirement, states that all landscaping plans must incorporate water conservation materials and techniques and that xeriscape landscaping is encouraged, while barring artificial turf, unplanted mulch or gravel beds, and bare or weed-infested ground from counting as compliant xeriscape.

Because the native-plant exemption sits inside chapter 6's nuisance article, a property owner relying on it should be able to show the plant material matches the city's posted approved plant list; planting an unlisted, tall-growing species without matching that list risks the standard eight-inch or sixteen-inch enforcement, including the civil infraction process under section 6-1003 and abatement under section 6-1004.