The purpose of this chapter is to achieve the following:
A. Enhance the appearance of all development by providing standards relating to the quality, quantity and functional aspects of landscaping and landscape screening;
B. Protect public health, safety and welfare by minimizing the impact of all forms of physical and visual pollution, controlling soil erosion, screening incompatible land uses, preserving the integrity of neighborhoods and enhancing pedestrian and vehicular traffic and safety;
C. Promote water efficient landscaping, water use management, and water conservation through the use of water efficient landscaping, wise use of turf areas and appropriate use of irrigation technology and management;
D. Provide landscape design, installation, maintenance and management that is water efficient;
E. Protect California's economic prosperity as it is dependent on the availability of adequate supplies of water for future uses;
F. Protect the waters of the state as they are of limited supply and are subject to ever increasing demands;
G. Promote the conservation and efficient use of water and to prevent the waste of this valuable resource;
H. Provide landscapes with areas for active and passive recreation and as an enhancement to the environment by cleaning air and water, preventing erosion, offering fire protection, and replacing ecosystems lost to development;
I. Use water efficiently without waste by setting a Maximum Applied Water Allowance as an upper limit for water use and reduce water use to the lowest practical amount;
J. Eliminate water waste from overspray and/or runoff;
K. Achieve water conservation by raising the public awareness of the need for an effective management program through education and incentives;
L. Promote the values and benefits of landscaping practices that integrate and go beyond the conservation and efficient use of water;
M. Assure the attainment of water-efficient landscape goals by requiring that landscapes serviced by potable water not exceed a maximum water demand of fifty-five percent (55%) for residential landscape projects and forty-five percent (45%) for non-residential projects of its reference evapotranspiration (ETO);
N. Implement the requirements to meet the State of California Water Conservation in Landscaping Act 2006, the California Code of Regulations Title 23, Division 2, Chapter 2.7, and Executive Order B-29-15 of April 1, 2015;
O. Establish a structure for planning, designing, installing, maintaining, and managing water efficient landscapes in new construction and rehabilitated projects by encouraging the use of a watershed approach that requires cross-sector collaboration of industry, government and property owners to achieve the many benefits possible; and
P. Establish provisions for water management practices and water waste prevention.
(Ord. 539 § 3, 2018; Ord. 443 § 1, 2010; Ord. 182 § 2 (part), 1997)