Lake Havasu City, AZ Landscaping Rules: Rainwater Harvesting (2026)

The city's Neighborhood Protection and Landscaping standards force most mechanical equipment out of sight. Section 14.04.04(G)(2) applies its screening rule broadly, to every electrical and gas-powered system that heats, cools, or ventilates a building, plus ductwork, major plumbing lines, and power systems, and requires roof-mounted units on multi-family, mixed-use, commercial, and industrial buildings to sit behind a parapet wall at least as tall as the equipment, or ground-mounted units to hide behind landscaping or a decorative wall of matching height. Subsection (a)'s applicability clause carves a specific list of equipment out of that entire screening obligation before it can attach: roof- or wall-mounted antennas and vent openings, ground- or roof-mounted solar, wind, or geothermal energy devices, rain barrels, composting equipment, and franchise utility boxes.

Because rain barrels sit on that exempt list by name, a property owner who installs one, whether attached to a downspout at the side of a house or freestanding in a side yard, does not need to screen it from public view the way a rooftop condenser or ground-mounted transformer would have to be screened. The exemption is unconditional in the text: it does not require the barrel to be a particular size, color, or setback distance, unlike the fence and hedge standards elsewhere in § 14.04.04 that do carry numeric limits. Development Services applies this exemption during site plan and building permit review whenever a mechanical-equipment screening question comes up.