Alpharetta, GA Landscaping Rules: Rainwater Harvesting (2026)

Under UDC § 2.5.5(I), the City treats rainwater harvesting systems as one of several 'multifunctional runoff reduction measures,' alongside bioretention areas, vegetated swales, and planter boxes, that developers may substitute for standard vegetated landscaping in the perimeter island, interior island, and median island areas of an off-street parking lot. The system counts toward those landscaping requirements only if it is built as part of an approved stormwater management plan for the site and continues to provide the screening function the landscaping was meant to serve.

This is a design incentive, not a mandate: the base parking-lot landscaping requirement referenced in § 2.5.5(H) still applies unless a qualifying runoff-reduction substitute, including a rainwater harvesting system, is installed instead. The same section separately allows alternative, narrower parking dimensions under Table 2.3.a for projects using runoff-reduction measures, and lets required parking be reduced by up to 20 percent where existing healthy trees are preserved. There is no dedicated residential rainwater-collection ordinance in the code; this landscaping credit applies specifically to off-street parking lot design reviewed by the Director of Community Development under UDC Article V.