Monterey County, CA Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

There is no Monterey County ordinance capping the height of a green, maintained residential lawn. Tall vegetation becomes a regulated problem only when it dries out and creates a fire hazard. The County's Basic Fuel Management guidance (Housing and Community Development, Planning Services) instructs property owners to keep flammable vegetation cut a minimum of 30 feet from buildings (or to the property line, whichever is closer) and, specifically, to cut dry and dead grass to a maximum height of 4 inches. It also calls for keeping roofs and gutters free of dead vegetation and removing dead wood from trees adjacent to or overhanging buildings.

Overlaid on this county guidance is California Public Resources Code 4291, the statewide defensible-space law, which requires 100 feet of defensible space (or to the property line) around structures in State Responsibility Areas and high or very-high fire-hazard severity zones. PRC 4291 governs vegetation clearance within a property's own boundaries up to 100 feet from a building. On or after July 1, 2021, sellers of property in a high or very-high fire-hazard severity zone must document a compliant defensible-space inspection; in much of the unincorporated county these inspections are handled by the Monterey County Regional Fire District. So the operative 'grass height' rule is the 4-inch dry-grass fuel standard, not a tidiness code.