Glendale, AZ Water Use Rules: Turf Replacement Rebates (2026)

105, caps how much thirsty landscaping a new non-residential project can install: no more than twenty percent (20%) of the landscaped area in excess of ten thousand (10,000) square feet for most facilities, or in excess of twenty thousand (20,000) square feet for hotels and motels, unless the facility irrigates that landscaped area with 100% effluent water, in which case the cap is waived entirely. The same entry addresses turf directly: natural turf is prohibited in the right-of-way, and synthetic turf may be permitted there only as an accent material and only with Development Services approval, so a developer cannot resod a right-of-way strip with grass to satisfy frontage landscaping requirements.

Any turf-related facility, such as a sports field or golf course, that irrigates ten or more acres of water-intensive landscaped area from any source, including effluent, is separately subject to the Arizona Department of Water Resources' management plan for the Phoenix Active Management Area, layering state groundwater-management law on top of the city's turf limits. Projects that want to avoid the turf restrictions altogether can submit an alternative xeriscape landscape plan on 15 acres or more under the same section's Xeriscape Option, substituting saguaros, ocotillos and gravel for turf and traditional trees, sealed by a registered landscape architect and approved administratively by Development Services.