How the City of Spokane's SpokaneScape rebate works: who qualifies, what the new yard must include, and why approval comes before any lawn comes out.
SpokaneScape is the City of Spokane's program for replacing lawn with a water-wise landscape: drought-tolerant plants, deep mulch and efficient irrigation in place of grass that needs watering all summer. City water customers who follow its rules get a credit on their utility bill. The one rule that catches people out comes first: apply, and have the City's pre-inspection, before any lawn comes out.
According to the City, Spokane uses about 19 billion gallons of water a year, most of it on landscapes, and all of the City's water is pumped from the Spokane Valley–Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer. Pumping less in summer, the City notes, supports the Spokane River when it needs the water most.
Who can apply
The SpokaneScape program is open to City of Spokane residential water customers in good standing. Renters can apply with a permission form signed by the owner. Eligibility follows the water bill, not the mailing address: the Spokane Aquifer Joint Board counts 21 water purveyors in the Spokane area, so check who sends yours. If your water comes from another district, as it may in Spokane Valley, the program doesn't apply, though the design ideas below still work. Our Spokane Valley page covers building there.
The City's residential terms and conditions add a few more:
- The lawn has to be visible from a public street or area. Once a front yard has been converted to a SpokaneScape or another xeric landscape, the backyard can become eligible.
- At least 300 square feet of lawn has to come out. Parking strips are the exception and have no minimum.
- If you have a homeowners association, get its approval before you apply.
- Each property can receive one SpokaneScape rebate per year, and rebates are first come, first served while the year's funding lasts.
As of October 2026, the residential terms pay $0.50 per square foot of lawn removed, up to $500, as a credit on your City utility bill. The City sets the amount and the budget each year, and both can change, so check the current terms before you plan around them.
What the new landscape has to include
The converted area has to meet the City's landscaping requirements:
- Plants: every plant drought tolerant or low water use. The 2026 SpokaneScape guidebook has the approved plant list.
- Coverage: living plants covering at least half the converted area at maturity. Vegetable gardens can supply up to half of that required coverage.
- No lawn or invasive plants: no live lawn, and nothing on the Spokane County noxious weed list.
- Mulch: at least 4 inches over all exposed soil. Wood chips, compost, decomposed granite, river rock and bark all count, and so do groundcovers planted densely enough to cover the ground fully at maturity. Gravel is allowed only in patios and walking areas, not in planted areas, and any weed barrier has to let air and water through.
- Permeable surfaces: ungrouted flagstone and permeable pavers qualify. Concrete and plastic sheeting do not.
- Irrigation: if the area is watered by a system, every spray head in it is removed, capped or replaced with drip, micro-spray, bubblers or rotary nozzles, with a pressure regulator and filter. If only part of a lawn is converted, the remaining sprinklers are adjusted so they don't spray the new beds, and low-volume and high-volume irrigation run on separate valves.
- Artificial turf: not eligible.
The steps, in order
- Prepare. Read the terms, draw a landscape plan with its square footage, make a plant list, and take two photos of the lawn you plan to remove. The City's guide also suggests calling 811 to have underground utilities located before you design.
- Apply. Send the plan, plant list, photos and your City utility billing account number through the SpokaneScape application, online or on paper.
- Pre-inspection. Water Wise staff schedule a visit and meet you on site. The application isn't approved until that visit happens, and lawn killed or removed before approval makes the project ineligible. A Designer at Your Door consultation, which the City offers to water customers who commit to a SpokaneScape and attend its Water Wise classes, counts as the pre-inspection.
- Build. Once approved, you have two years to finish.
- Final inspection. When the work is complete, contact the Water Wise team to schedule it. After approval, the credit arrives on your utility bill, typically within four to six weeks.
- Maintain. The yard has to be kept as a climate-appropriate landscape for at least three years after the final inspection, or the City can ask for the rebate back.
Designing a yard that meets the rules
A SpokaneScape doesn't have to look like a rock garden, and a few early decisions make the rules easier to meet.
Keep lawn where it gets used
The program starts with lawn the public can see, usually the front yard, and a backyard can become eligible once that's done. Lawn can stay where children play or a dog runs, and the rest gets planted. Because a property can receive one rebate a year, a plan can convert the front one year and the back in a later one.
Do the coverage math early
The City counts coverage by each plant's mature width: a yarrow that grows 3 feet wide counts as 9 square feet. A 600-square-foot conversion needs 300 square feet of plants at maturity, and mulch and existing plants don't count toward it. A planting plan drawn to mature sizes shows whether the numbers work before anything is bought, and leaves room for plants to fill in, which in a drought-tolerant garden can take a few years.
Paths and seating that count
Hardscape inside the converted area has to be permeable, so paths and patios are built from permeable pavers or ungrouted flagstone, or from gravel, which the program allows in walking areas. Rain still soaks in where it falls, and the yard gets places to sit and walk.
Irrigation that fits
On City water, any irrigation system needs a testable backflow assembly, tested every year by a state-certified tester; a hose-bib vacuum breaker doesn't count. From June 1 to October 1, the City's watering rules also apply: no watering outdoor plants between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., and no more than four days a week. New plantings need steady water in their first season, and the City can grant exemptions for newly planted landscapes.
Rock near the house
The City's guide recommends rock mulch within five feet of the house, the noncombustible strip NFPA's Firewise program asks for, and it marks fire-resistant plants on its plant list.
Parking strips
A parking strip has no minimum size and earns the same $0.50 per square foot, and the City posts planting templates for strips, full of plants that can take the heat next to the street. A tree in the strip is a different matter: it has to come from the City's approved street tree list for that strip's width, and planting it takes a Public Tree Permit and an ISA Certified Arborist with a current Commercial Tree License.
What it means for your yard
A new SpokaneScape looks sparse at first and fills in over the first few years. The first summer takes the most water while roots establish; after that, the City's guide moves to deep, infrequent watering, cut back as the plants mature. Mowing ends for the converted area. In its place come hand-weeding every few weeks, topping up mulch to keep it 4 to 6 inches deep, and winterizing the drip system each fall: water off, timer, filter and pressure regulator brought indoors, and drains opened at the low points.
If you're weighing a conversion, our Spokane office can walk the yard with you and draw a plan around the City's rules. The first visit, an on-site consultation, is free. Call (509) 352-3433.
