Huntington Beach, CA Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

Under Huntington Beach Municipal Code Chapter 14.52, every landscape documentation package submitted with a building or planning permit must run the maximum applied water allowance (MAWA) against the estimated applied water use (EAWU), using an ETo of 43 inches per year for the city. Section 14.52.070(C)(4) sets the plant water use factor at 0.1 for very low water use plants, the category native and Mediterranean-climate species typically occupy under the WUCOLS species evaluation list, versus 0.4-0.6 for moderate and 0.7-1.0 for high water users. Section 14.52.070(C)(7) goes further for landscapes built entirely of natives: a hydrozone of highly drought-tolerant native plants that will not be irrigated once established is defined outright as a very low water use hydrozone with a 0.1 plant factor, even during the temporary irrigation period used to get the planting through establishment.

Section 14.52.070(G)(3) directs that plants be selected for their fitness to the site's climatic, geologic and topographic conditions and states plainly that 'protection and preservation of native species and natural areas is encouraged.' The landscape design plan required under 14.52.070(G)(9) must delineate and label each hydrozone and identify its water-use tier, so a native or naturalized planting scheme has to be mapped and factored into the water budget calculation the same as any other, but it earns the most favorable multiplier available. There is no separate native-plant permit; compliance rides on the standard landscape documentation package reviewed by the City's landscape architect.