Lee County, FL Water Use Rules: Turf Replacement Rebates (2026)

" That intent becomes a hard number in Section 10-416(b), which governs building perimeter plantings for all new commercial development, commercial components of planned development districts, and DRIs. Those perimeter planting areas, a minimum five feet wide along at least three sides of the building, must be at least 50 percent covered with shrubs and ground cover at planting, and turfgrass is expressly "discouraged" and capped at ten percent of the landscape area. The same ten percent turf ceiling applies again to the enlarged perimeter green space required in front of shopping centers and freestanding retail uses, an area equal to at least five percent of the vehicular use area.

Section 10-417 backs the turf reduction up on the irrigation side: every automatic irrigation system serving required landscaping must be designed to avoid watering impervious surfaces and must include moisture-detection devices that override the sprinklers during heavy rain. Together these sections mean a Lee County commercial developer cannot simply sod a required landscape buffer; the design has to lean on drought-tolerant shrubs, groundcover and trees, with turfgrass limited to a supporting role rather than the dominant surface.