9-500.53. Initial active management areas; landscaping requirements; prohibition; statewide concern; definitions

A. Notwithstanding any other law, a municipality that is located within an initial active management area may not adopt or enforce any code, ordinance, rule, regulation, standard, stipulation or other requirement that directly or indirectly requires any of the following in a subdivision where groundwater savings credits have been pledged to a certificate of assured water supply:

1. A minimum number of trees, except for trees included on the low-water-use and drought-tolerant plant list that is published by the department of water resources for the current management plan for the initial active management area.

2. A minimum size for trees or shrubs.

3. A minimum percentage of irrigated ground cover.

4. A minimum amount of turf.

5. An area for active open space that exceeds the greater of the following:

(a) Ten percent of the gross acres within the subdivision.

(b) What is required for retention.

6. Rights-of-way that require landscaping on more than twenty percent of the cross section.

7. Construction or maintenance of water parks or decorative water features, including lakes, ponds or lagoons, except as provided in section 45-132, subsection B, paragraph 4, subdivision (a).

B. In a subdivision where groundwater savings credits have been pledged to a certificate of assured water supply, a municipality may not:

1. Increase lot sizes or reduce lot yield once zoning is approved.

2. Increase the size of a right-of-way required as of September 26, 2025 for the purpose of additional landscape area.

C. The efficient use of water is a matter of statewide concern.

D. For the purposes of this section:

1. "Groundwater savings credit" means a groundwater savings credit as prescribed in section 45-465.05.

2. "Initial active management area" has the same meaning prescribed in section 45-402.

3. "Subdivision" has the same meaning prescribed in section 32-2101.