Lynwood, CA Water Use Rules: Turf Replacement Rebates (2026)

Lynwood Municipal Code section 25-45-11(A)(1)(d) sets the operative rule: turf is not allowed on slopes greater than 25 percent where the toe of the slope is adjacent to an impermeable hardscape, with 25 percent defined as one foot of vertical elevation change for every four feet of horizontal length (rise divided by run times 100). The restriction sits inside the Landscape Design Plan section of Article 45, the city's Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (WELO), adopted by Ordinance #1623 and effective January 1, 2010. Under section 25-45-3, the WELO reaches public agency and private development projects with 2,500 square feet or more of new or rehabilitated landscape requiring a building or landscape permit, plan check, or design review; developer-installed single-family and multi-family projects at the same 2,500-square-foot threshold; and homeowner-installed single-family or multi-family landscapes at 5,000 square feet or more.

A rehabilitated landscape counts toward the ordinance when the modified area equals at least 2,500 square feet and 50 percent of the total landscape area, with work completed within one year, per the article's definitions section. The Development Services Department administers the ordinance: before construction the city must supply applicants the governing rules and review, approve, or deny the submitted landscape documentation package, then issue the permit or approve the plan check or design review under section 25-45-6. Turf itself is defined in section 25-45-4 as a ground cover of mowed grass, listing cool-season species and warm-season species, any of which triggers the slope restriction if planted on a qualifying slope.