Longmont, CO Water Use Rules: Turf Replacement Rebates (2026)

Longmont's land development code folds two state mandates directly into local landscape review. a requires that, beginning January 1, 2026, every landscape plan submitted for new development or redevelopment comply with Colorado Senate Bill 24-005 and House Bill 25-1113: nonfunctional turf, nonfunctional artificial turf and invasive plant species are prohibited on multifamily residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and common-interest community properties, as well as in public rights-of-way, medians and transportation corridors. The code defines the target precisely elsewhere in the same section: 'Turf, nonfunctional' covers turf, including artificial turf, in areas that do not serve civic, community or recreational purposes, such as grass strips between sidewalk and curb, medians, and parking lot or transportation-corridor plantings, while 'Turf, functional' is the carve-out for playgrounds, sports fields, picnic grounds, amphitheaters, park areas and golf-course playing surfaces.

v, already required 75 percent drought-tolerant or native ground cover in landscaped areas and banned nonfunctional turf outright; the 2026 rule layers the state statutes on top of that local baseline for every new or redeveloped site. 100. B. Compliance is checked at landscape-plan review, the same city-standards process that governs plant selection, sizing and diversity for the whole development code.