Eagan, MN Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

Eagan City Code § 10.21, Subd. 3.C requires a valid managed natural landscape registration before any property owner installs or maintains a managed natural landscape, defined as a planned, intentional planting of native or nonnative grasses, wildflowers, forbs, ferns, shrubs or trees, including rain gardens and meadow vegetation, as distinguished from a turf lawn simply left unattended. The registration application must include a site plan showing lot lines and the planting location, the common names of species to be grown, and a maintenance plan with a planting diagram, mature heights, and long-term care details; the owner must also sign an acknowledgment that the maintenance plan is a binding condition of the registration.

Registrations run five years. Within a registered managed natural landscape, the owner must still maintain a three-foot buffer of permitted vegetation kept under eight inches tall along property lines and buildings, unless the adjacent line borders a public park, open space, vacant lot, wetland or steep slope. The community development director may inspect the property for compliance with the filed maintenance plan; if a property falls out of compliance, the director must mail 30 days' notice, and failure to correct it lets the city perform the work, abate the nuisance, and bill the owner.

Two compliance actions within a five-year window let the director revoke the registration outright, remove all unmanaged vegetation, and bar the property from re-registering for two years. Registrations are non-transferable and terminate automatically when the property changes hands, so a new owner must file a fresh registration.