Placerville HOA Guide: Local Rules for Boards and Owners

The State Fire Marshal’s 2025 map shows Very High, High and Moderate fire hazard zones in Placerville. A city staff report says the earlier map put the whole city in the Very High zone and the new one lowers some areas. The City Council took up an ordinance adopting the state’s zones on April 8, 2025. We could not find the signed ordinance or its number online, so ask the Planning Division which zone your parcels are in. The city posts the map on its fire page.

Separate from the map, the city has its own hazardous vegetation ordinance: City Code Title 7, Chapter 16 (Ordinance 1698, adopted August 13, 2019). It applies to every parcel in the city, whatever the zone. This is how section 7-16-6 reads in the city’s online code:

The ordinance text the Council reviewed in May 2019 names two enforcement officers: the Fire Chief of the El Dorado County Fire Protection District and the city’s Development Services Director. In that text, a hazard abatement notice gives at least 15 days to clear the hazard and 15 days to appeal. If the work is not done, the city can do it and recover the cost through a lien or the property tax roll. Fines run up to $100, $200 and $500 for repeat violations within a year. We read those enforcement steps in the Council’s 2019 copy, not the current code, so confirm them before you rely on a deadline.

Two points matter for boards. First, the duty falls on whoever owns or controls the land, so common area and open space are the association’s job, and an owner’s lot is the owner’s job. Open-space parcels with no buildings fall under the vacant parcel rules and the May 1 date. Second, the ordinance has a good neighbor provision: where a neighbor’s building sits close to the property line, clearing may be asked for on the adjoining vacant land to complete a 100-foot strip. That can reach onto association open space.

Placerville regulates short-term rentals in City Code section 10-4-20, added by Ordinance 1710 in 2022. A short-term rental is a unit rented for 30 days or less. The city’s question and answer sheet, dated October 2022, describes the rules this way:

This may be changing. In February 2026 the City Council introduced an ordinance that would allow hosted short-term rentals, where the owner is on site, in some residential zones, and would raise the cap to 30 permits a year. Under the draft, an applicant would have to submit the property’s CC&Rs if it has them. The Council continued the item to March 10, 2026 for legal review, and we could not confirm whether it was adopted. Call the Planning Division at (530) 642-5252 for the rule in force today.

For boards, the city’s rule and your own rule are separate. A city permit does not override your CC&Rs. California Civil Code section 4741 limits rental bans but says it does not stop an association from prohibiting rentals of 30 days or less. If your documents are silent, the city’s residential ban does much of the work for now, but it can change with one Council vote.

Placerville’s ADU rules are in City Code section 10-4-12. The Council took up Ordinance 1730 for adoption on January 27, 2026 to match state law changes that took effect January 1, 2026. The staff report for that meeting describes these standards: a detached ADU of up to 1,200 square feet, 4-foot side and rear setbacks, no added parking requirement, no owner-occupancy requirement for an ADU and no rentals of less than 30 days in a junior ADU. The city must tell an applicant within 15 days whether the application is complete. The city’s older ADU handout dates from January 2023, so check any number with the Planning Division before your architectural committee relies on it.

For boards, the state rule matters most. 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 architectural review. The staff report also says the city keeps its objective design standards and historic resource protections where state law allows, so an owner in a historic district may need city review as well as yours.

This rule catches sellers by surprise. City Code Title 7, Chapter 17 (Ordinance 1712, adopted December 12, 2023) makes property owners responsible for the private sewer lateral, the pipe that runs from the building to the city’s sewer main. The city documents compliance with a Certificate of Lateral Compliance. The city’s page describes it this way:

The parts of the chapter we read do not mention homeowners associations or condominiums. That leaves a board with homework. Find out from your governing documents and your plans who owns each lateral and any shared sewer line in the community: the owner, a group of owners or the association. If the association owns sewer lines, ask the Building Division at (530) 642-5240 how the certificate works for them, and put their inspection and replacement into your reserve planning. Tell owners about the rule before they list a home.

Inside the city limits, the City of Placerville is the water and sewer provider. Its Public Works Division maintains about 45 miles of water main and about 2,700 meters. Meters are read every other month. The city’s rate schedule, adopted in April 2026, steps rates up each April 16 through 2030 and passes through increases in the price of water from the El Dorado Irrigation District (EID). The customer maintains the line from the meter to the building, including any backflow prevention device.

If your community is outside the city limits, your water agency is not the city. Check the association’s water bill to see who serves you. EID’s main line is (530) 622-4513.

We found no day-of-week watering schedule and no turf rebate on the city pages we read. Call the Finance Department at (530) 642-5225 about your account, or Town Hall at (530) 642-5232 about the water system.

The deadline to plan for is January 1, 2029. From that date, state law (AB 1572) bars the use of drinking water on nonfunctional turf in HOA common areas. The State Water Resources Control Board describes nonfunctional turf as mowed grass that is not in a recreational use area or community space, such as grass along sidewalks, around signs and buildings, in parking lots and in street rights-of-way. Grass that people use for recreation or community gatherings can still be watered. The rule is about what you water with drinking water. It does not order you to remove the lawn. The Water Board also says associations will have to certify compliance to the state, and that public water systems must revise their rules and notify customers by January 1, 2027. Expect to hear from your water provider.

The Placerville Police Department enforces parking on city streets. Its vehicle abatement page points to City Code Title 9, Chapter 6 and lists these rules:

We did not find a separate city time limit for RVs or trailers on residential streets in the sections we read, and section 9-3-11 does not name trailers. Ask the Police Department how it treats an RV or an unhitched trailer before you tell owners what the city allows. To report an abandoned vehicle, call (530) 642-5280.

These are rules for public streets. On streets your association owns, your own rules and state towing law govern, and your rules can be stricter than the city’s.

Trees. Under City Code section 8-3-21, trimming or removing a tree in the city street right-of-way needs a city permit. A removal permit is issued only where removal is necessary and the adjacent owners agree, or where the City Engineer finds it necessary. The city also has a Woodland and Forest Conservation chapter (Title 8, Chapter 13). We could not open that chapter’s text. A city environmental document describes its Woodland Alteration Permit and Plan rules, in section 8-13-4, as applying to residential subdivisions of land. Before a vendor removes native oaks or other large trees in a common area, call the Planning Division at (530) 642-5252 and ask whether a permit applies.

Historic districts. Under City Code section 10-4-10, exterior alterations, demolition and new construction in a historic district or on a designated historical building need Planning Commission approval. Minor repair and maintenance with the same material and color is exempt. We read this in the city’s copy of the zoning chapter updated in September 2022. An approval from your architectural committee does not replace the city’s, and the city’s does not replace yours.

Work hours. We could not find a citywide construction-hours section in the parts of the code we read. The city does set hours as a condition on individual projects. One 2019 city project limited construction to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with none on Sundays or holidays. Check the permit conditions for your project, or ask the Building Division at (530) 642-5240. Your own rules can set hours for work inside the community.