West Palm Beach, FL Water Use Rules: Turf Replacement Rebates (2026)

Sec. 94-442(c) sets the city's general open-space landscaping standards. For 'all other developments' (everything besides single-family and duplex dwellings), subsection (c)(2)(b)(3) states plainly that grass areas shall not exceed 60 percent of the required landscape area. That cap forces the remaining 40 percent of required landscape area into trees, shrubs, groundcover, or other plant material rather than turf, cutting the irrigation demand of a site's plantings. The same subsection sets minimum tree and shrub counts, one shade tree per 1,500 square feet of required open space, one flowering tree per 6,000 square feet, and one shrub per 500 square feet, so the reduced grass area is filled with lower-water plantings rather than left bare.

The Florida-friendly point system in Sec. 94-441(g) reinforces the same goal on a voluntary-credit basis: option (7) awards ten points toward the 25-point (single-family) or 50-point (other development) minimum for natural sod area less than 50 percent of the provided landscape area, meaning a project that goes further than the mandatory 60 percent cap earns credit toward its overall Florida-friendly compliance. Sec. 94-441(d)(8) lists retaining rainfall with shallow rain gardens or swales and using permeable walkway and driveway material among the Florida-friendly principles the article is built around, tying the turf limit to the article's stated water-conservation intent in subsection (a)(2).