SACRAMENTO, Calif. – After opposition from Southern California officials, California officials are considering making their proposed fire-resistant landscaping rules more flexible.
What happened: The Board of Forestry and Fire Protection proposed in a new draft Thursday to exempt more plants from proposed requirements that property owners in fire-prone areas remove all combustible material, from wooden fences to ornamental shrubs, within 5 feet of buildings.
The proposed changes, which provide exceptions for some well-maintained plants and trees protected by local ordinances, follow significant opposition from property owners in Southern California, where the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously on Oct. 7 against an earlier version of the rules over concerns they did not adequately consider local biodiversity and urban shade.
Why this is important: The long-delayed rules, required by a 2020 state law, could transform neighborhoods from within, drawing widespread interest from property owners across the state who could pay for up to thousands of dollars worth of landscape changes. Fire-safe landscaping became even more urgent after the Los Angeles wildfires in January, prompting Newsom to direct the board to finalize the rules this year.