15.54.010 APPLICABILITY.

   A.   After December 1, 2015, this chapter shall apply to all of the following landscape projects:

      1.   New construction with an aggregate landscape area equal to or greater than five hundred (500) square feet requiring a building or landscape permit, plan check or design review;

      2.   Rehabilitated landscape projects with an aggregate landscape area equal to or greater than two thousand five hundred (2,500) square feet requiring a building or landscape permit (excluding tree removal permits that do not change a landscape area of such size), plan check, or design review;

      3.   Existing landscapes limited to Sections 15.54.052 and 15.54.054; and

      4.   Recognizing the special landscape management needs of cemeteries, new and rehabilitated cemeteries are limited to Sections 15.54.022, 15.54.036 and 15.54.038; and existing cemeteries are limited to Sections 15.54.052 and 15.54.054.

      5.   Any project with an aggregate landscape are of two thousand five hundred (2,500) square feet or less may comply with the performance requirements of this chapter or conform to the prescriptive measures contained in Appendix D of the California Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance.

      6.   For projects using treated or untreated graywater or rainwater captured on site, any lot or parcel within the project that has less than two thousand five hundred (2,500) square feet of landscape and meets the lot or parcel’s landscape water requirement (estimated total water use) entirely with treated or untreated graywater or through stored rainwater captured on site is subject only to Appendix D, Section 5 of the State of California Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance.

   B.   Exemptions. This chapter does not apply to:

      1.   Registered local, state or federal historical sites;

      2.   Ecological restoration projects that do not require a permanent irrigation system;

      3.   Mined-land reclamation projects that do not require a permanent irrigation system; or

      4.   Existing plant collections, as part of botanical gardens and arboretums open to the public.

   C.   This chapter shall be consistent with the California Code of Regulations Title 23, Division 2, Chapter 2.7, Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance, and the regulations within the California Code of Regulations shall apply where any inconsistencies arise with this code.

(Ord. 2020-05 § 2(part), 2020; Ord. 2009-11 § 1(part), 2009).