Waco, TX Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

Sec. 28-217, 'Preservation of vegetation,' sits in Division 3 of Chapter 28's site-development standards, the same division that includes grading, drainage, erosion control and landscaping requirements. It defines protected vegetation two ways: any mature vegetation with a trunk six inches or greater in caliper, and native vegetation drawn from a specific list, live oak, spanish oak, cedar elm, shin oak, bald cypress, post oak, or black walnut among larger trees, plus small native trees such as Texas madrone, black cherry, Texas mountain laurel, evergreen sumac, Mexican buckeye, flameleaf sumac or Texas persimmon.

That vegetation must be preserved through two methods: avoiding clear-cutting outside the area necessary for construction, and retaining existing vegetation within required yard areas, open space, screening areas, and boundary parking-lot landscaping. The requirement is enforced at the permitting stage: Sec. 28-173(e) requires that a site-work permit's development plan include maps showing existing trees of eight inches or greater in caliper and native vegetation as referenced in Sec. 28-217, plus an indication of any trees or native vegetation proposed for removal, so the building official can check compliance before work begins.

Because Sec. 28-172 exempts single-family dwellings from the development-plan requirement that triggers this division, Sec. 28-217 chiefly binds commercial, multi-family, and other site-development projects rather than an individual homeowner's yard. The related landscaping section, Sec. 28-218, separately lists 'native plant materials' as an acceptable category of landscape material alongside grass, trees, shrubs and groundcover for boundary and parking-lot landscaping.