Plant material and ground treatment standards.
El Paso City Code § 18.46.080
in effect18.46.080 - Plant material and ground treatment standards.
A. All plants to be used in the landscape design shall be selected from the approved plant lists. A landscape professional may propose an alternative, locally appropriate plant to be approved by the building official or designee. No artificial plant materials shall be used to satisfy the requirements of this chapter and plant material shall be healthy and vigorous at the time of planting.
B. Required plant material shall be selected, installed, and maintained.
C. Subject to approval by the building official, substitution of plant materials based on equivalent size and type may be allowed for the purpose of preserving or relocating existing healthy trees and shrubs.
D. Shrubs.
1. Shrubs shall be five-gallon perennials with a minimum height of approximately eighteen inches at the time of planting unless that of the dwarf species.
2. Shrub placement shall be designed to ensure that at maturity there is a five-foot clearance adjacent to any fire hydrant or fire department connection. For other utility riser or meter boxes, meters or equipment, plant placement does not need to meet a minimum clearance but shall provide appropriate amount of visual screening that also allows reasonable service access.
3. Substitution Alternatives.
a. One project tree may be substituted with five five-gallon shrubs. This substitution is limited to fifty percent of the required trees.
b. One five-gallon shrub may be substituted for five one-gallon shrubs for up to fifty percent of the required shrubs for the entire project.
c. One palm of three feet trunk height may be substituted for five five-gallon shrubs for up to fifty percent of the required shrubs.
E. Trees.
1. Trees shall be a minimum of ten feet tall and a two-inch caliper size at time of planting.
2. Substitution Alternatives.
a. If a selected tree for any portion of the parcel area, excluding the parking lot, is documented on the approved plant list as a native or naturalized tree for the El Paso area, the tree may be multi-trunk with three largest trunks cumulative minimum of two caliper inches and be a minimum of eight feet tall.
b. For trees located within the parcel, two one-and-a-half-inch caliper eight-foot-tall trees may be substituted for one two-inch caliper tree for up to fifty percent of the required trees, subject to approval by the building official.
c. For trees located within the parcel, one four-inch caliper tree, twelve feet tall may be substituted for two two-inch caliper trees ten feet tall, for up to fifty percent of the required project trees subject to approval by the building official or their designee.
3. Trees placed within fifteen feet of vehicular entrances or exits shall be single trunk canopy trees.
4. Trees in pedestrian areas shall be planted and maintained, with an upward branch pattern, and a branching structure having a minimum of eighty-inch clearance from ground level.
5. All trees shall be healthy and vigorous. Trees shall be planted in beds with a minimum area of forty-eight square feet of surface area and have no interior dimension less than three feet measured at ninety degrees to the interior edges. Islands in parking lot planters shall be six feet by six feet (thirty-six square feet) interior dimension measured at the ninety-degree edge.
6. A tree well shall be as deep as the root ball and at least twice as wide as the root ball. The bottom of the tree well should be convex and a minimum of four inches of mulch should be placed on the top of the well.
F. Ground Cover.
1. Turf shall be limited to play and park areas and not be installed on slopes exceeding twenty percent.
2. All non-vegetative ground covering shall be a minimum of three-inch depth.
3. Nonporous materials shall not be installed under organic or inorganic ground covering. For the areas of the parcel that are not parking lot, ground treatment that is not plant material shall be permeable or disconnected impermeable surfaces.
4. Natural and inorganic ground coverings may be used as a groundcover but not substituted for required plant coverage. Exposed raw soil or seeding on raw soil without additional inorganic or organic groundcover shall not be permitted.
5. Any weed barrier materials used must allow the percolation of standing water within seventy-two hours and be placed at minimum of three inches below the mulch or ground covering surface.
(Ord. No. 019874, § 1, 5-12-2026)
Source: City of El Paso, City Code and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/tx/el_paso/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT18BUCO_CH18.46LA_ARTIIDERE_18.46.080PLMAGRTRSTFetched: 10/28/2026