Watsonville, CA Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

Section 9-5.705(g)(3)(vii) of the Watsonville Municipal Code is a native-plant mandate, not a landscaping allowance, and it applies inside the Coastal Zone District of the City of Watsonville, California, in Santa Cruz County. Under 9-5.705(g), all approved development applications in Zones A through E inclusive and R are subject to performance standards, findings and conditions needed to conform with the Chapter II policies of the certified Watsonville Coastal Land Use Plan. The landscaping paragraph falls under the Coastal Visual Resources policy and requires all nonagricultural development to landscape every area not covered with structures using only native plant species characteristic or indigenous to the immediate surrounding area.

The planting must include a mix of native grasses, shrubs, and trees coordinated with building design, and all landscaping must provide screening vegetation fronting any structures visible from Highway One and other coastal zone roads. The requirements are carried out through a landscape plan that must specify three things. First, all plantings are maintained in good growing conditions throughout the life of the project and replaced whenever necessary. Second, landscaping stays free of weeds and invasive non-natives, with acacia, pampas grass and scotch broom named, and any such plants already on the site removed.

Third, all landscaping gets an adequate, permanent and nearby water source applied by an installed irrigation system or, where feasible, drip irrigation, designed to avoid runoff, overspray and low head drainage onto adjacent property, walks, roadways or structures. A companion rule in 9-5.705(f)(4) sets a minimum 100 foot setback from environmentally sensitive habitat areas and calls for native trees, shrubs and grasses in that setback under a plan prepared by a qualified wetland biologist, with native riparian species next to running water. Section 9-5.701 states the district's purpose as protecting resources, sensitive habitats and agricultural uses.