Morgan Hill HOA Guide: Local Rules for Boards and Owners

Morgan Hill runs its own water utility, supplied by city groundwater wells and serving about 12,900 customers. Its water code goes further than most on one point that lands directly on associations: drinking water may not be used on non-functional turf at commercial, industrial or institutional sites, and the code says that group includes HOA-owned property and the common areas of condominium, townhome, apartment and mobile home complexes.

The rule is in Municipal Code section 13.04.330, as amended by Ordinance No. 2342 in February 2023, and it is in force now. Non-functional turf is irrigated lawn that is not functional turf. The definition names streetscape turf along private or public streets and turf that is solely ornamental. Two exceptions matter to a board: potable water may still be used to the extent needed to keep trees healthy, and the chapter’s limits, other than its watering hours, do not apply to recycled water.

For the lawn you are still allowed to water, the city posts a schedule. From March 1 to October 31, 2026 it is:

• Sprinklers may run only before 9 a.m. or after 7 p.m., and each valve or zone for no more than 15 minutes a day.
• From November through February, watering is limited to one day a week.
• No watering within 48 hours after a quarter inch or more of rain, and no runoff onto sidewalks, streets or gutters.
• Leaks must be fixed within 10 days of a written notice from the city. Decorative fountains must recirculate.
• The city lists exemptions for very low-flow drip systems, hand-held watering, weather-based controllers and the first 60 days of a new landscape.

Ask Environmental Services at (408) 310-4169 which exemptions apply to your system and which days apply to a common-area meter with no street address, and give the answer to your landscape contractor in writing.

Two points matter for the budget. First, Valley Water’s Landscape Rebate Program pays a base rate of $2 per square foot to convert high-water-use lawn, and $1 per square foot for its lawn-to-mulch option. The cap for commercial sites and multifamily sites of five or more units is $100,000, against $3,000 for a single home, and Valley Water says funding lasts until June 30, 2027 or until it runs out. You must apply, pass a pre-inspection and receive a written Notice to Proceed before any work starts. Ask Valley Water which category your common-area account falls in. Second, a state law passed in 2023 (AB 1572) will bar the use of drinking water on nonfunctional turf in HOA common areas starting January 1, 2029. Valley Water’s rebate page notes that Morgan Hill’s own rule is already in effect, so a board here should not plan around the 2029 date.

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

Smoking is banned inside every unit of a multiunit residence in Morgan Hill, and on its private balconies, porches, decks and patios. The City Council approved Ordinance No. 2356 on September 18, 2024, and the city says the rules took effect on March 17, 2025. They are in Municipal Code Chapter 8.42.

• A multiunit residence is two or more attached homes that share a wall, floor or ceiling. The city’s list includes condominiums, townhomes, duets and attached single-family homes.
• Detached single-family homes are excluded, and so is a single-family home with an in-law unit or ADU.
• Smoking is banned in common areas, indoors and out: lobbies, halls, stairs, community rooms, gyms, garages, courtyards, paths, playgrounds, pool areas and parking lots.
• The rule covers cigarettes, cigars, pipes, hookahs, electronic smoking devices and marijuana.
• A designated smoking area is allowed only outdoors, with a marked boundary, signs and ash cans, at least 25 feet from doors, windows and vents and from areas used mainly by children, such as pools and playgrounds. It may not take up more than 10% of the property’s outdoor area.

This ordinance does not leave the association out. Section 8.42.040 is written for homeowners associations, and it asks the HOA to do four things:

• Give every owner a copy of the chapter and a written notice that smoking is banned in units, private outdoor spaces and common areas.
• Post and maintain No Smoking signs, with letters at least one inch tall and the international no-smoking symbol, in enough places to make the ban obvious. Missing signs are not a defense.
• When the association learns of a violation, take reasonable steps: send the resident a written notice, ask that it stop and say what happens next if it continues.
• Pass along the free quit-smoking resources offered by the city or the county.

Sellers, for their part, must give prospective buyers or renters the same copy and notice. The city says free signs are available at City Hall while supplies last and that it has a sample notice on its website. Residents are asked to raise a problem with the neighbor first, then with the landlord, manager or HOA, and then with Code Compliance at (408) 778-6480. Fines run up to $100 for a first violation, $250 for a second and $500 for each one after that, and the ordinance lets any person bring a civil action. How your association enforces the rule through its own hearing and fine process is a question for your attorney.

In 19 Morgan Hill subdivisions, shared landscaping is paid for through the property tax bill and maintained by the city, not by an association. The City Council created the district in 1991 as the Fox Hollow/Murphy Springs Landscape Assessment District under the state Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972, and renamed it City of Morgan Hill Landscape Assessment District No. 1 in 2010.

The engineer’s report for fiscal year 2026-27 lists 748 assessable units in zones that include Fox Hollow/Murphy Springs, Mill Creek, Stone Creek, Sandalwood, Sparhawk, Jackson Meadows, Llagas Creek Estates and Oak Creek. The district pays for ground cover, shrubs and trees, irrigation and drainage systems, graffiti removal and entry monuments. For 2026-27 the yearly assessment runs from $88 to $629 a unit depending on the zone.

Why a board or an owner should care:

• Some neighborhoods have a landscape zone and no association at all. A buyer who sees a tidy entry and assumes there is an HOA may be wrong, and so may an owner who assumes there are no shared costs.
• Each zone has a maximum rate. In six zones the maximum rises 3% a year. The report records that property owners in Mill Creek approved a higher rate and a yearly inflator for their zone.
• The report shows two zones ending 2026-27 with a negative fund balance. When a zone cannot cover its costs, owners face the same choice an underfunded HOA does: pay more or accept less.
• A zone can leave. The report notes that owners in one zone voted to detach from the district in 2019. Someone still has to maintain the landscaping after that.

If your association’s entry or frontage sits next to a district-maintained strip, find out exactly where the line is before you sign a landscape contract. The city publishes a map of the sub-areas, and the Maintenance Division at (408) 776-7333 handles district questions.

The Hillside Combining District (Municipal Code section 18.30.040) is an overlay on the city’s sloped land. The city treats any property with a slope of 10% or more as a hillside property, and the district’s limits bite where slopes reach 20%:

• An owner must show that the areas of the lot sloped 20% or more will not be affected, using a topographic map prepared by an engineer or land surveyor.
• A geotechnical survey by a certified engineer goes in with the application, because sloped land is prone to landslides and other earth movement.
• A Design Permit from the Planning Division may be required before a building permit.
• The city does not support a subdivision that would create a lot made up only of land sloped 20% or more.

These are city rules, so they apply alongside your architectural guidelines. An approval from the committee does not replace a city permit, and a city permit does not replace the committee’s approval.

Wildfire is the second layer. The State Fire Marshal released new fire hazard severity maps for local responsibility areas on February 24, 2025. The city says the 2025 map changes Morgan Hill’s Very High zones and adds High zones, and it has posted the map and an interactive viewer. In a Very High zone, 100 feet of defensible space around structures is mandatory under Government Code section 51182, and sellers must disclose the zone designation. The city’s page does not list the neighborhoods affected, so look up each common-area address in the viewer and ask the Fire Marshal at (408) 310-4665 what applies to your slopes and open space.

Weeds are the third. Morgan Hill is one of the cities where the Santa Clara County Weed Abatement Program works by contract. The county’s deadline for Morgan Hill parcels in the program is May 1. Its minimum standards keep grass and weeds under 6 inches, clear flammable vegetation at least 30 feet around any structure and keep a 10-foot strip trimmed on both sides of roads and driveways. Parcels of one acre or less must be cleared completely. For 2026 the county lists a $296 initial inspection fee for each parcel in the program, and a parcel leaves the program after three consecutive years of compliance. Fire service in the city is staffed by CAL FIRE under an agreement that began in January 2013.

A city permit is required before removing or heavily pruning a protected tree, and in Morgan Hill a native tree is protected at a small size. The rules are in Municipal Code Chapter 12.32. Size is measured four and a half feet above the ground:

• Dead and diseased protected trees still need a permit.
• Work that reaches into the public right-of-way also needs an encroachment permit from the Engineering Division.
• A notice must be posted on the tree or the property for at least 10 days.
• Each removed tree must be replaced with the same or a similar native species unless the city approves something else.
• In an emergency a hazardous or fallen tree may be removed first, but you must notify the Planning Division and pay the permit fee within 5 days.

When we checked, the city listed a fee of $153.60 for one application covering up to three protected trees. Applications go to the Planning Division, (408) 778-6480. With a 6-inch threshold for natives, a board should assume any oak in the common area needs a permit and build the lead time into the tree contract.

FEMA has mapped numerous Morgan Hill properties as Special Flood Hazard Areas, where there is a 1% chance of flooding in any year. The city says they are generally near Corralitos, Coyote, Edmundson, Foothill, Llagas, Maple, Paradise, Tennant and West Little Llagas creeks, and it publishes a map of local flooding hot spots.

A large project is changing that picture. Valley Water’s Upper Llagas Creek Flood Protection Project covers 13.9 miles of channel, including a 2,300-foot tunnel under downtown that was finished with the second phase in 2024. The last phase is scheduled for completion in spring 2027. Valley Water says that when it is done, about 1,100 homes and 500 businesses will be protected from the 100-year flood. Flood zones are set by FEMA’s maps, not by construction progress. If your community is near West Little Llagas Creek, ask the Engineering Division at (408) 778-6480 where your common-area buildings stand on the current map.

Newer communities usually have permanent stormwater features, such as planted basins and swales that filter runoff. For new projects Morgan Hill applies the post-construction requirements of the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, under a guidance manual it shares with Gilroy and south Santa Clara County. The city’s stormwater page does not say who must maintain those features once a project is built. That is set by your project’s approvals and recorded documents, so find them before your landscaper fills in a basin or swaps its plants for lawn.

The city sets up a sandbag station in the rainy season. In November 2025 it was in the Community Park parking lot at 171 W. Edmundson, and you bring your own shovel.

On public streets the Police Department treats a vehicle left 72 hours or more on a roadway as abandoned, and takes reports through an online form. What the city publishes about larger vehicles:

Private streets are different, and the city says so plainly. For a possibly abandoned vehicle on private property or a private roadway, its page tells residents to contact the property owner. The police report form is for public property and public roads. If your association owns its streets, parking is governed mainly by your own rules and by state towing law, and the board is the one residents will call.

The city’s ADU rules are in Municipal Code Chapter 18.84, and ADUs and junior ADUs are allowed in any single-family or multifamily zone. The city’s page says a single-family property can have a junior ADU, an attached or converted ADU and a detached ADU. A junior ADU may be up to 500 square feet, and its owner must live on the property.

Multifamily properties can have up to eight detached ADUs, or conversions up to 25% of the existing units, depending on the property. In a condominium the land and the building shell are usually common area, so nothing of the kind happens without the association. The city also offers a gallery of pre-approved ADU plans. Those plans still need site planning and a permit, and in an HOA they still need architectural approval.

For boards, the state rule matters more than the city one. Civil Code section 4751 voids CC&R provisions that prohibit or unreasonably restrict an ADU or junior ADU on a lot zoned for single-family use. An association can still apply reasonable restrictions through its architectural review process.

We could not find a short-term rental permit program on the City of Morgan Hill’s website when we checked, so we do not describe one here. What the city does publish is its lodging tax. The transient occupancy tax is 11%, raised from 10% by Measure H on March 1, 2019, and the city says anyone renting space for lodging must collect and remit it. The Finance Department has a registration form and an exemption form for stays over 30 days.

Before the board tells an owner that the city allows or forbids a nightly rental, ask the Planning Division at (408) 778-6480 how the zoning code treats it. In the meantime your own documents do most of the work. 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. Paying the city’s tax does not override your CC&Rs.

Construction is allowed on weekdays and Saturdays only, within set hours. The hours are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, with none on Sundays or federal holidays. The city posts those hours for contractors under Municipal Code Chapter 8.28. Put them in your construction and reroofing contracts and in your architectural approval letters. Your own rules can set shorter hours.

Code Compliance sits in the Building Division. The complaints it lists include construction noise after hours, fences over 7 feet, junk in front yards, overgrown vegetation, trash containers left in the street and work without permits. Barking dogs, abandoned vehicles and parking go to the Police Department. None of that covers your CC&Rs, which only the association enforces. Street, sidewalk, streetlight and storm drain problems on public property can be reported through the city’s SeeClickFix page.