Protected native trees
The county protects a broader range of native trees than almost any other California jurisdiction — including several species most homeowners wouldn't guess need a permit to remove.
California unincorporated profile
Outside the boundaries of incorporated cities and towns, the Marin County government is the planning and permitting lead agency. That means county zoning, county building codes, and county environmental review apply directly — without a separate city layer. The county rules most likely to catch a project applicant off guard are listed below.
These Marin County rules apply directly to projects in unincorporated areas of the county, with no city-level overlay.
The county protects a broader range of native trees than almost any other California jurisdiction — including several species most homeowners wouldn't guess need a permit to remove.
The county's Stream Conservation Area ordinance imposes creek setbacks that can extend well beyond what a standard buffer would suggest — the required distance depends on corridor type and parcel size, so the answer is rarely obvious from a property map.
Construction in unincorporated Marin is limited to weekday hours and ends in the late afternoon — no Saturday or Sunday work at all, which is the most restrictive schedule in the Bay Area and regularly catches contractors off guard.
Most of western Marin falls within the Coastal Zone, so new structures or significant modifications there require a Coastal Development Permit from the California Coastal Commission in addition to county approval.
Recent state fire hazard mapping has extended the fire zone across more of the county, including portions of the mountain corridor and southern communities — landowners who assumed they were outside the fire zone should re-verify their current designation.
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Screen an addressSource: Headlands Environmental — environmental site screening for California. Rules summarized from publicly available county codes and planning documents; project review counts indexed from the State Clearinghouse. For authoritative requirements, consult Marin County directly.