Sutter County adopts rule for water in landscaping

Water conservation plans will be required for future homes and lawns in much of Sutter County — despite leaders' complaints the state has forced their hands in the matter.

An ordinance demanding water efficiency and irrigation plans for many landscaping projects larger than 2,500 square feet won the Board of Supervisors' approval Tuesday and takes effect on Friday. But the 4-1 vote was a largely grudging one, marked by board members' about state intrusion into local affairs.

"We had no way of going to the public, no time to get people's perceptions, to see how (the costs) affect businesses and communities," said Jim Whiteaker, the only supervisor to vote against the law. "The state's gonna do what the state's gonna do, but as a county we shouldn't be accepting this."

The water ordinance brings Sutter County in line with Assembly Bill 1881, a state efficiency law that takes effect Friday.

New homes or rebuilding projects would require the owner to file a landscaping and irrigation plan — usually involving a drip irrigation system — with the county to prove compliance with water consumption limits before gaining a building permit. The ordinance applies to newly landscaped areas 2,500 square feet or larger, outside homes and public buildings.

Future homes are the main target of the law, which does not apply to existing homes except when the owner replants more than 5,000 square feet at a time. Builders and homeowners in Yuba City and Live Oak — home to the bulk of county residents — will be subject to city, not county, water efficiency codes.