Port Hueneme Municipal Code Ch. 8 Landscape Water Conservation Standards

It is the policy of the City of Port Hueneme to promote water conservation. These Landscape Water Conservation Standards are intended to promote water conservation while allowing the maximum possible flexibility in designing healthy, attractive, and cost effective water efficient landscapes.

These Landscape Water Conservation Standards must be used in conjunction with the City of Port Hueneme Land Development Provisions for Landscaping commencing with §10302. Where conflicts in language may exist between these Landscape Water Conservation Standards and the City's Land Development Provisions for Landscaping, the more restrictive water conserving language prevails.

(Ord. No. 696, § 1, 12-7-09)

Compliance with these Landscape Water Conservation Standards is mandatory for all new or altered landscaping proposed as a part of a development project that is subject to discretionary review by the City of Port Hueneme. These standards are not mandatory for local, state, or federal historical sites; ecological restoration projects; public botanical or arboretum collections; or individual private rear yards, enclosed by a wall/fence of single-family residences, planned residential groups, and other individual and multi-family residences with a private walled/fenced yard or patio areas, unless required by a discretionary permit.

Cemeteries are exempt from compliance with all provisions of this Chapter, except § 7603(D).

(Ord. No. 696, § 1, 12-7-09)

A. Landscape Area: All planting areas where new or altered landscaping is proposed as a part of a new development proposal.

B. ET: Evapotranspiration is the approximate summation of water losses through evaporation from soil and transpiration from the plants during a specified period of time.

C. ETo: Reference Evapotranspiration is the approximation of water loss expressed in inches per year from a field of four (4) to seven (7) inch tall cool season grass that is not water stressed.

D. ET Adjustment Factor: A factor used to set an efficiency goal, that when applied to ETo adjusts for plant factor and irrigation efficiency, two (2) of the major influences upon the amount of water that needs to be applied to a landscape.

E. Plant Factor: A factor that when multiplied by the ETo, estimates the amount of water used by a given plant species.

F. Water Wise Plants: Those plants that are evaluated as needing "moderate" (40-60% of ETo), "low" (10-30% of ETo) and "very low" (< 10% of ETo) amounts of water as defined and listed by Water Use Classifications of Landscape Species (WUCOLS) available at:

Department of Water Resources Bulletins and Reports P.O. Box 942836 Sacramento, California 94236-0001

Other sources of water wise plant classifications may be used if approved by the City's Director of Community Development.

G. Turf: A groundcover surface of mowed grass with an irrigation water need of greater than 30% of the ETo.

H. Weather Based Irrigation Controller: An irrigation controller that automatically adjusts the irrigation schedule based on changes in the weather.

I. Landscape Plan: Design plans with a planting plan, irrigation plan, and plans with supporting detail sheets to include notes and/or specifications.

J. Water Budget Calculation: The Maximum Annual Applied Water Allowance must be calculated using this formula:

K. Special Landscape Area: Including park and recreational areas, areas permanently and solely dedicated to edible plants such as orchards and vegetable gardens, and areas irrigated with recycled water are subject to the MAWA with an ET adjustment factor not to exceed 1.0.

L. New Development: Means a new building on a vacant site, an addition to an existing building on a site, a new building on a developed site, or a change in land use type any of which requires a discretionary permit from the City.

(Ord. No. 696, § 1, 12-7-09)

Applicants for New Development proposing new or altered landscaping shall comply with each of the following requirements in the design, installation, and maintenance of the landscaped area unless an exception is granted pursuant to § 7604.

A. Landscape Plan: Applicants must submit a detailed Landscape Plan together with the New Development construction and engineering plans including a horticultural soils report based upon soil samples from the Landscape Site with laboratory recommendations for all soil preparation and maintenance fertilization. The Landscape Plan must incorporate recommendations of the soil analysis report and depict the landscaped area and all existing landscaping to remain on the lot as determined by the Department of Community Development. Any plant may be selected providing that the Landscape Area be designed to be irrigated at no more than 0.70 of the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and cannot exceed the MAWA. The City reserves the right to modify plans in quantity and quality of the landscape to meet the Landscape Water Conservation Standards requirements.

B. Use of Turf and Water Wise Plants:

1. The landscape area of projects proposing exclusively commercial or industrial uses must be designed without the use of turf and with one hundred percent (100%) water wise plants. The exception to this is where a turf type is specified for any required bio-swale or bio-filter systems or areas adjacent to pedestrian traffic where walking travel or crossings are expected such as at corner lot locations or linear areas located along pedestrian routes.

2. Turf is the appropriate choice in parkways where vehicle parking is permitted adjacent to the parkway curb. The term "Parkway" is defined in § 6040(c). The parkway may include one (1) or a maximum of two (2) non-permanent hardscape areas per lot frontage where space permits. The non-permanent hardscape area can be pervious pavers, decomposed granite, brick on sand, concrete pavers, or other materials approved by the Director of Public Works and may serve as a pedestrian landing between the parkway curb and the sidewalk. Each non-permanent hardscape area may be no larger than 4′-0″ in width and be installed and sized in such a manner that it can be easily removed should the City or utility company need to do work in the parkway in the future. The pedestrian landing area must be a minimum of 5′-0″ away from any street tree and 3′-0″ away from any meter boxes, cable boxes, transformers, street lights, or other objects that may be in the parkway.

3. Where parking is not permitted adjacent to the parkway curb, the parkway must be designed using one hundred percent (100%) water wise plants.

4. The landscape area of single family residential, multi-family residential, mixed use, and institutional type of projects shall be designed with no more than forty percent (40%) of the landscaped area in turf or plants that are not water wise plants. In the case of single family residences and other residences with a rear yard that is enclosed by a wall/fence separate from any other residence's rear yard or common area, the area to be used in the calculation of "landscape area" shall only include the front yards and any side yard outside the individual dwelling unit's privacy area (typically, a fenced or walled area). Approved turf parkways are not a part of the forty percent (40%) turf limitation.

5. Turf is not permitted in medians or parking lot landscape finger planters.

6. Turf shall not be used on slopes of twenty percent (20%) (5:1) or greater within the landscape area.

7. Notwithstanding requirements 1 and 2 above, additional turf areas may be approved by the City of Port Hueneme for areas designed and used for outdoor sporting and recreational activities or for an approved functional use. Approved turf areas may be watered at 1.0 of the reference evapotranspiration (ETo).

C. Mulch: The landscape area, except those portions of the landscaped area planted in turf, must be covered with mulch material to an average thickness of at least three (3) inches throughout. In areas with groundcovers planted from flats, mulch shall be installed to an average thickness of one and one-half (1½) inches. Additional mulch material shall be added from time to time as necessary in order to maintain the required depth of mulch.

D. Irrigation: All new or altered irrigation systems proposed as part of a development proposal must incorporate the following requirements in their design, installation, and maintenance:

1. Irrigation systems must be designed and installed to avoid overspray and runoff. Valves shall be separated for individual hydrozones based on plant water needs and sun/shade requirements.

2. Water Budget Calculations set forth in § 7602(J) above must be shown on Irrigation Plans.

3. An automatic irrigation system is required and must include a weather based irrigation controller with a rain shut off sensor.

4. Areas less than eight (8) feet wide are a particular challenge and must be irrigated with appropriately selected equipment that provides the proper amount of water coverage without causing overspray on to paved surfaces.

5. All sprinklers must have matched precipitation rates within each valve and circuit. All irrigation systems must be designed to include optimum distribution uniformity, head to head spacing, and setbacks from walkways and pavement.

6. All irrigation systems must provide check valves at the low end of irrigation lines to prevent unwanted draining of irrigation lines.

7. Pressure regulators may be required on the irrigation system as determined by the Public Works Department.

(Ord. No. 696, § 1, 12-7-09)

Exceptions to these Landscape Water Conservation Standards may be granted by the Community Development Director upon finding that the exceptions will promote equivalent or greater water conservation than is provided for in these standards. Requests for exceptions must be in writing and submitted to the Community Development Director at the time the application is submitted to the City for review. Requests for exceptions must be accompanied by documentation demonstrating that the finding of equivalent or greater water conservation can be made.

(Ord. No. 696, § 1, 12-7-09)

A. Applicants must provide all relevant information on the landscape plan including botanical names for plants and turf species; container sizes; percentage calculations of allowable areas of turf; low, medium or high water use plants and water-wise plants; water budget calculations; monthly irrigation schedule; and specific requests for any exceptions to the requirements of these Landscape Water Conservation Standards. Areas of existing landscaping to remain unaltered must be indicated on the landscape plan.

B. The landscape plan must be prepared in accordance with the provisions of the California Business and Professions Code relating to the practice of landscape architecture (Business and Professional Code §§ 5641. et seq.).

C. The landscape plan must include a "Statement of Compliance" in a form approved by the Community Development Director certifying that the landscape design complies with the mandatory elements of these Landscape Water Conservation Standards. The person who prepared the plans must sign the Statement of Compliance.

(Ord. No. 696, § 1, 12-7-09)

The person who prepared the landscape plan must inspect the installation of the landscaping and any irrigation system included in the plan and certify in writing to the Department of Community Development that the installation substantially conforms to the approved Landscape Plan before a final City landscape inspection or occupancy being requested.

(Ord. No. 696, § 1, 12-7-09)

Verification of compliance with the Landscape Water Conservation Standards, as applicable, must be made by the Community Development Department in accordance with the following requirements:

A. No building permit can be issued unless the Statement of Compliance required by §7605(C) is included on the final landscape plan submitted for plan check approval.

B. No building permit can be given a final landscape inspection or issued a permanent certificate of occupancy until the Department of Community Development receives a written determination of conforming installation as required by § 7606 above.

(Ord. No. 696, § 1, 12-7-09)