Foster City HOA Guide: Local Rules for Boards and Owners

Where CC&Rs require review by an association or its architectural committee, the owner must complete that review before the city acts, and the association’s written findings must reach the city (section 17.58.070(A)). Getting the findings to the city is the owner’s job, not the city’s. The city’s landscape-modification checklist also asks for an HOA letter where one applies.

That makes a clear, written architectural review process more important here than in most cities. Owners will be waiting on your committee before they can file with the city.

The city operates the lagoon. It raises the water to summer levels in mid-March and lowers it in mid-November for winter storms, and it plans a dredging project for 2027-28. Gas-powered boats are not allowed except for city maintenance and safety boats. Owners must maintain the parts of waterfront property next to or visible from the lagoon (chapter 9.52).

FEMA found in 2014 that the old levee did not meet its standards. Voters approved Measure P in 2018, and the city finished raising and widening the levee in 2024. The city says land inside city limits stays in Zone X, where flood insurance is not mandatory, though FEMA encourages it. The bond costs about $40 per $100,000 of assessed value a year.

EMID pays irrigation-account customers $4 per square foot for lawn conversion or synthetic turf, up to $10,000 each, and $50 per station for smart irrigation controllers, up to $7,500. Associations and multifamily properties on a combined domestic and irrigation meter can get the meter separated at no cost, plus a construction loan of up to $50,000 at 5% over 36 months, paid on the water bill. Every program needs a pre-inspection before work starts. Rebates: (650) 286-3270. Meter separation: (650) 286-8140.

EMID declared a water shortage emergency in 2014, and the city says only certain measures from the district code are in effect. Ask EMID which ones apply before you set irrigation schedules.

A state law passed in 2023 (AB 1572) bars the use of drinking water on nonfunctional turf in HOA common areas starting January 1, 2029. The law stops the watering; it does not require removing the lawn. A board that decides to replace decorative lawn can use a rebate, where one is offered, to pay for part of the conversion.

On owners’ lots, Civil Code section 4735 prevents an association from banning low-water plants or artificial turf as a replacement for lawn.

We did not find a designation of private roads for Vehicle Code enforcement in the parts of Foster City’s code we could read. Where no designation exists, enforcing parking and speed rules on association-owned streets usually falls to the association, so ask the police department whether any roads in your community are designated.

Your association’s rules can be stricter.

Trash, recycling and yard-waste carts may not sit in a front yard, including the driveway, or anywhere visible from the lagoon except on pickup days (section 9.52.010(L)). Overgrown or unsightly landscaping, weeds and dead trees are nuisances. Code Enforcement inspects from the street, sends up to three letters and then may refer a case to the City Attorney. If the city abates a nuisance, the cost can become a lien or a charge on the tax bill. Code Enforcement: (650) 286-3238.

A city handout says homes in the R-1 zone do not need a permit to remove trees on their own property. Landscape changes elsewhere go through architectural review and need an arborist report, drought-tolerant replacement trees and, where it applies, an HOA letter. Ask Planning before removing a common-area tree. Community Development: (650) 286-3220.

Foster City’s transient occupancy tax is 12% on stays of 30 days or less, and it covers houses and apartments (chapter 3.20). ADUs and junior ADUs may not be rented for fewer than 30 consecutive days. We found no short-term rental permit program. California Civil Code section 4741 limits how far an association can restrict rentals generally, but it does not stop an association from prohibiting rentals of 30 days or less.

In or within 100 yards of residential districts, construction, repair and landscape-maintenance tools are allowed from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends and holidays (section 17.68.030). Leaf blowers are allowed only from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, never on Sundays or listed holidays, and debris may not be blown onto neighboring property or the street unless it is removed right away. Put these hours in your landscape contract.