Kyle, TX Landscaping Rules: Rainwater Harvesting (2026)

Kyle City Code § 54-3, part of Chapter 54's landscaping and screening rules, addresses water conservation for developed properties. Subsection (b) requires that all property within the city's water service area adhere to the city's drought management program when watering, and subsection (c) adds that rainwater harvesting systems are encouraged for commercial, mixed use and multi-family projects, with all other development types also encouraged to incorporate one. Planning and Community Development, which reviews landscape plans under § 54-2, administers this chapter; § 54-2 requires most non-exempt developments (everything besides the A, UE, R-1-1, R-1-2 and R-1-A districts) to submit a landscape plan sealed by a registered landscape architect, certified arborist, or registered forester before a development permit issues.

Because § 54-3(c) uses "encouraged" rather than "required," a builder who skips a rainwater harvesting system faces no citation for that choice alone. Once a system is installed, though, it falls under the general landscape maintenance duty in § 54-3(a), which lists "water reclamation systems" among the infrastructure an owner must maintain as required by the code, alongside irrigation systems and drainage infrastructure. Chapter 54's purpose statement in § 54-1 frames the policy, noting that about half of urban water produced is used for landscape irrigation and that rainwater, stormwater, graywater and recycled water should replace or augment potable water use in landscapes, the same conservation goal that makes xeriscaping mandatory under § 54-4(f) even though rainwater harvesting itself remains voluntary.