Healdsburg HOA Guide: Local Rules for Boards and Owners

The Land Use Code defines a vacation rental as renting a residential unit for fewer than 30 days for transient lodging with no on-site management. Its zoning tables say where that use can go:

• Single-family (R-1), multi-family (RM) and Downtown Residential (DR) districts: not permitted (sections 20.08.025, 20.08.050 and 20.08.070).
• Downtown Commercial (CD) district: a conditional use, so it needs a conditional use permit (section 20.08.145).

The city’s Vacation Rentals page says most properties will not qualify because of zoning, that owners are responsible for stopping illegal rentals by a tenant and that verified violations bring fines and may lead to criminal prosecution.

A separate use, the residential visitor lodging operation (a home where paying guests stay overnight), is a conditional use in the R-1, RM and DR districts under section 20.20.060. Ask Planning at (707) 431-3348 what that section requires before anyone relies on it.

The points an architectural committee is most likely to be asked about:

• A lot with a single-family home may have one junior ADU and one attached or detached ADU.
• The size limits are 500 square feet for a junior ADU and 1,200 square feet for an ADU. Side and rear setbacks are 4 feet.
• The code’s table requires no on-site parking for a new ADU.
• ADUs and junior ADUs must be rented for terms longer than 30 days and may not be sold separately from the main home, with a narrow exception for qualified nonprofits.

A city permit does not replace your association’s architectural review, and your review does not replace the permit. Before the committee denies or conditions an ADU, ask your attorney what the Davis-Stirling Act allows.

Healdsburg splits its parking rules between the Municipal Code (public streets) and the Land Use Code (private residential property):

Inoperative or dismantled vehicles, trailers and boats visible from the public right-of-way are a public nuisance under section 20.16.120, unless they are in a garage or screened. If your association owns its streets, parking is governed mainly by your own rules and state towing law, so ask Healdsburg Police what the city will enforce there.

Healdsburg supplies its own water. The city’s 2024 water quality report says it comes from three well fields: two along the Russian River (about 80%) and one on Dry Creek (about 20%). Under Municipal Code section 13.12.210, leaks of more than 100 gallons per hour must be fixed within 72 hours of discovery, and irrigation that causes more than incidental runoff must be repaired. When supply is short, the City Council declares a stage by resolution under section 13.12.220:

On our check date the city’s drought page said no water restrictions were in effect. Confirm with the Electric, Water and Wastewater Department at (707) 431-3122 before you set irrigation clocks.

Two points matter for the budget. First, section 13.12.210 bars potable water on nonfunctional turf on association property, and the State Water Board gives January 1, 2029 as the compliance date for homeowners associations. Second, the city’s rebate page lists $1 per square foot of turf converted and $100 per irrigation controller. Ask the utility whether common areas qualify before work starts.

Healdsburg protects large trees of any species. Under Land Use Code section 20.24.045, a heritage tree is any tree with a diameter of 30 inches or more, measured two feet above level ground, plus any tree the City Council designates.

• Removing a heritage tree, or encroaching into the protected zone around it (never less than 10 feet from the trunk), requires a tree permit from the Planning and Building Director.
• Routine maintenance, emergencies and dead trees are exempt, as are heritage trees on a single-family parcel that cannot be further subdivided (section 20.24.057).
• Each heritage tree removed must be replaced with three new trees, or an in-lieu fee where replanting is not feasible.

The single-family exemption does not mention common area, so assume a large tree in common area needs a permit until Planning tells you otherwise.

Section 20.24.090 bars buildings and improvements, including patios, decks, fences and retaining walls, within 100 feet of the top of bank of the Russian River, 35 feet of Foss Creek and 25 feet of any other stream or creek.

The Fire Department runs weed abatement inspections each year. The city’s weed abatement page asks owners to cut high weeds, trim tree limbs at least 6 feet off the ground and remove ladder fuels. Confirm this year’s inspection dates and deadlines with the Fire Marshal at (707) 431-3125.

Wildfire rules reach further than weeds. The city’s electric utility says its high fire threat areas are on and around Fitch Mountain, the Healdsburg Ridge and the northernmost part of its territory. The city’s Fire Hazard Severity Zone page says 100 feet of defensible space is mandatory around structures in Very High zones. Check any address on the State Fire Marshal’s map.

Chapter 15.08 adopts the 2025 California Fire Code with local amendments. One requires at least 10 feet of ignitable vegetation clearance on each side of roads and driveways in wildland-urban interface areas. The state Board of Forestry is also writing a rule for an ember-resistant Zone 0 next to buildings. Its project page does not show an adopted rule, so ask the Fire Department at (707) 431-3360 what applies now.

Your association can set shorter work hours in its rules, not longer ones. On smoking, the party with legal control over common areas (the code gives a homeowners association as an example) must post No Smoking signs and may designate a smoking area that meets the distance rule. The chapter also lists multi-unit dwellings among the places where smoking is prohibited and requires signs saying smoking is prohibited in all units, so ask your attorney how it applies to your units, balconies and patios.