Ventura Water outlines timeline and outreach to implement AB 1572 non‑functional turf ban

Ventura Water staff presented an informational briefing on Assembly Bill 1572, the state law that prohibits irrigation of non‑functional turf with potable water on many commercial, industrial, institutional parcels and on homeowners association common areas in a phased schedule from 2027 to 2031.

Environmental Services Supervisor Steven Glenn told council the law distinguishes functional turf—areas used for recreation, sports, playgrounds, or other gathering—from non‑functional turf such as medians, parking lot islands and other irrigated grass that is not regularly used for human recreation. The implementation schedule outlined in the law and explained by staff begins with local government and state properties in 2027, expands to commercial/industrial/institutional parcels in 2028, HOA common areas in 2029, and provides a later compliance date (2031) for parcels within disadvantaged communities.

Glenn described a city outreach and mapping effort that used state‑provided GIS layers of candidate non‑functional turf polygons over parcel maps; city parks staff are reviewing parcels, updating the map and will return corrected boundaries to the state. Staff also presented a simple PDF tool to help smaller agencies and HOA boards mark areas that are misidentified.

Key exemptions include public parks and recreational spaces, sports fields, tree health and safety, cemeteries and other areas where people regularly gather. The state also requires registration or certification for landscape areas larger than 5,000 square feet; staff noted the law’s technical definitions can be broad and that the city will need to clarify areas and exemptions through parcel‑level review.

For enforcement Ventura Water proposed incorporating AB 1572 compliance into the city’s updated water‑waste ordinance rather than a stand‑alone rule. Staff said the city historically relied on education and notices for water‑waste violations; the revised ordinance under consideration would modernize fines and enforcement steps, which range from written notices to fines, meter flow restrictions and, in extreme cases, service discontinuation. Glenn said staff will bring an updated water‑waste ordinance to the Water Commission on June 22, return to council with a final draft on Oct. 6 and seek a second reading Nov. 11 so the ordinance would be operative Jan. 1, 2027.

Staff also highlighted incentive pathways: the city already runs a turf‑removal rebate program and said it is exploring higher rebate amounts and grant funding to help commercial sites and HOAs convert non‑functional turf to water‑wise landscaping or use non‑potable irrigation where available.

Next steps: staff will continue parcel validation, outreach to impacted property owners (including HOA boards), finalize updates to the water‑waste ordinance and return to the Water Commission and council on the timeline described.