Redwood City, CA Landscaping Rules: Water Restrictions (2026)

7, into City law for anyone who needs a building permit, planning permit, plan check, or landscape design review from the City for a new single-family, multi-family, public, institutional, or commercial project with a landscape area larger than 500 square feet, or a rehabilitated landscape larger than 2,500 square feet. 6(a)(3)(B), (C), (D), and (G). For new landscape installations, compost must be incorporated at a minimum rate of four cubic yards per 1,000 square feet of permeable area, tilled to a depth of six inches into the soil; soil that already tests above six percent organic matter in its top six inches is exempt from that compost and tilling step.

A minimum three-inch layer of mulch must then cover all exposed soil in planting areas, except turf areas, creeping or rooting groundcovers, and direct-seeding areas where mulch would interfere, and up to five percent of the landscape area can be left unmulched if it is designated in the plan as beneficial-insect habitat. Recycled or post-consumer organic mulch must be used ahead of inorganic material or virgin forest products unless recycled product is not locally available. 120 lists these compost and mulch duties as only part of MWELO; applicants must still consult the full state ordinance for irrigation efficiency, plant selection, and other requirements the City has not separately restated. If the California Department of Water Resources later tightens the referenced MWELO sections, the updated state requirements automatically apply in Redwood City once adopted.