San Anselmo HOA Guide: Local Rules for Boards and Owners

Overnight parking is not allowed on any San Anselmo street between 2 and 6 a.m., or in town lots (section 3-5.1207). Residents without off-street parking can buy a resident overnight permit for $50 a year, and visitor permits cost $1 a night for up to seven nights in a row. Vehicles also may not stay in the same spot on a public street for 72 hours or more. Permit questions: (415) 258-4616.

For a community with little off-street parking, this rule shapes guest and overflow parking. Explain it in your parking rules and new-owner packet, and make sure any guest spaces in the community are clearly marked.

Short-term rentals of less than 30 days are not listed as an allowed use in any zoning district (section 10-3.302), so the town says they are not allowed. Rentals of 30 days or more are allowed, and violations can bring citations and fines. Report a rental through the town’s Report a Problem page. Since 2018 the town has also barred landlords from refusing tenants who pay with housing vouchers, and state law now does too.

Because the town already bans these rentals, an association ban mainly adds a way to enforce through the CC&Rs. 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.

The town says San Anselmo and Sleepy Hollow creeks periodically flood. A flood horn sounds five blasts, pauses and repeats three times when flooding is imminent. Commercial properties in the floodplain must install flood gates, and flood insurance is mandatory in the Special Flood Hazard Area for loans that are federally backed. Check your zone on MarinMap or at Town Hall.

County Flood Control Zone 9 covers the Ross Valley watershed communities. Its storm drainage fee, approved by owners in 2007, is collected on the property tax bill and ends June 30, 2027. The county lists annual fees of $36.92 to $135.08 for condos and townhomes and $132.48 to $221.40 for single-family homes. Watch for a renewal vote before it ends.

Construction, demolition and power tools are limited to 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, with quiet work only from 7 to 8 a.m., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Residents working alone on their own property may continue to 8 p.m. (section 9-1.302, amended November 2025). Projects on Bald Hill are limited to 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays (section 9-1.301).

The county’s list of local landscaping ordinances says San Anselmo bans two-stroke leaf blowers. Confirm the details with the town before you sign a landscaping contract.

Ross Valley Fire, which serves Fairfax, Ross, San Anselmo and Sleepy Hollow, asks for a clean zone within 30 feet of buildings and reduced fuel from 30 to 100 feet or the property line, trees limbed up 10 feet and branches kept 10 feet from chimneys and roofs. Owners must also clear 10 feet beside the road and 15 feet overhead in front of their property.

Ross Valley Fire says resale inspections are no longer required in San Anselmo, though Fairfax and Ross still require them. Ross Valley Fire has also filed notices for a direct assistance program that helps residents who cannot do required fuel reduction themselves. Ross Valley Fire: (415) 258-4686.

Marin voters approved Measure C in March 2020, a 10-year parcel tax of up to 10 cents per square foot of building or $75 per multifamily unit, to fund the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority. Its inspectors and local fire departments run defensible-space and home-hardening evaluations, but enforcing the rules is up to your local fire agency.

We could not confirm whether San Anselmo has designated any private roads for Vehicle Code enforcement. Where none is designated, enforcing parking and speed rules on association-owned streets usually falls to the association, so ask the Central Marin Police Authority.

Marin Water’s year-round rules bar irrigation between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. and during or within 48 hours after rain. Overhead sprinklers may run up to two days a week and drip systems up to three. A violation brings a written warning, then a $25 fine and then $250. Its Water Watch page showed no water shortage stage when we checked.

Marin Water’s Cash for Grass rebate pays $2.18 per square foot, or $3.68 when at least half the new planting is California-native and low-water. A limited-time rain garden bonus can raise it to $4.68. Pre-approval and a pre-inspection are required before any lawn comes out, and artificial turf does not qualify. The cap is 1,000 square feet for homeowners and 5,000 for business owners, and the program page does not say which cap applies to an HOA common-area meter, so ask the conservation team at (415) 945-1527. Commercial and multifamily accounts can also apply for a Custom Rebate before starting a project.

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.