Montebello, CA Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Section 8.40.030 of the Montebello Municipal Code requires every unimproved vacant lot, whether it was never developed or became vacant after existing buildings or pavement were removed, to be improved and maintained under a landscape and irrigation plan approved by the planning division. For lots under one acre, residentially zoned parcels must be covered entirely in sod, hydro-seed, drought-tolerant groundcover or other planning-division-approved cover kept in good condition, while commercially or industrially zoned lots need a minimum ten-foot-wide landscaped planter along every street frontage; either way, the lot needs a working irrigation system, must stay free of litter, debris and stockpiled material, and any dead vegetation or broken irrigation must be replaced within seventy-two hours of discovery.

Lots one acre or larger carry heavier obligations: a ten-foot perimeter planter with trees, shrubs and groundcover under an approved irrigation plan, and a six-foot decorative, view-obscuring security fence installed behind the landscaping, which the planning and community development director can require up to eight feet high where the site's topography calls for it; the fence needs a security gate with a code kept current with the police department. The owner must post contact information for the property owner or manager at the site, and remove any graffiti on the fencing within twenty-four hours.