Redding council adopts updated water-efficient landscape ordinance to align with state model

The Redding City Council on Monday approved updates to the city—s local water-efficient landscape ordinance to align the city code with the state—s 2025 Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance.

City staff said the changes update technical references and compliance procedures, increase the local evapotranspiration (ETo) reference rate used to calculate landscape water budgets and add requirements for installation certificates and irrigation audits. "The Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance promotes the conservation and efficient use of water in new and rehabilitated landscapes," said Brian Dixon, a development services staff member who led the technical presentation.

The ordinance applies to new landscapes and rehabilitated projects that require permits and plan checks. Under the adopted language, landscapes of 500 square feet or more fall under the law; projects between 500 and 2,500 square feet may follow a prescriptive checklist or the performance method, while projects larger than 2,500 square feet must use the performance approach. Dixon said the state update increased Redding—s ETo input from about 48.8 inches per year to 52.9 inches, a roughly 8 percent rise that increases allowable water budgets.

The updates also move the prescriptive compliance option into the main ordinance text, require a certificate of installation signed by the designer of record for performance projects, and relax a prior requirement that irrigation audits be performed only by third parties so that qualified auditors on staff of a firm may perform audits provided they are not the designer or installer. Dixon said the changes include mandated efficiency targets for irrigation systems and require documentation such as soil management reports and irrigation schedules at project completion.

Council members pressed staff on whether the revised local ordinance would be more restrictive than the state model. "We're not more restrictive as proposed to you tonight," Director of Development Services Jeremy Pagan told the council, adding the change primarily updates obsolete references and brings the city into alignment with the state model.

The council opened a public hearing and, with no public speakers on the ordinance, approved the staff recommendation to adopt the updated local ordinance, direct the city attorney to prepare the implementing ordinance language and the city clerk to publish the statutory summary. Council approved the measure by voice vote.

Staff noted the requirement to adopt a local water-efficient landscape ordinance comes from state law; Pagan said the local update will be accompanied by the usual documentation and a finding that the action is exempt from further review under CEQA. City staff said the change is intended to provide clearer technical references for applicants and to improve verification that installed landscapes match approved designs.

Implementation steps described by staff include updating the local code references to the state model, clarifying certificate and audit procedures and incorporating the updated ETo table used in water-budget calculations. Dixon reiterated that the performance method relies on a water-budget calculation and plant water-use categories and that the prescriptive option remains a compliance route for smaller residential or limited-scale projects.

Council action brings the city—s local ordinance into alignment with the 2025 state model; city staff will prepare the implementing ordinance language for final adoption and publication.