Question
At our last HOA meeting, someone brought up an interesting topic and I can't seem to find any reference to it on the internet...he stated that it was against the law to have a Juniper tree planted too close to a wall.  When he was questioned about this law, he referred to UBC codes but that was the extent of his knowledge.  Have you ever heard of these types of laws or codes?
Thanks for your reply, Avon Boulder City, NV

Answer
Nope - No such law.  I think he may be referring to possible LOCAL codes (like Lake Tahoe's TRPA), or Nevada Division of Forestry (NDF) suggesting the restricting of juniper planting in "defensible" zones.   NDF has a booklet that refers juniper as "little gas cans" on page 3, in their "Living with Fire" guidelines (found at Livingwithfire.info)  It does NOT have the weight of LAW in Nevada.  It is merely a strongly-worded suggestion, which most of us Landscape Architects & designers abide by, if we want to get our building permits approved.

It is a much maligned plant, here in the west.  If planted in the right spot, it is quite nice, but the "propaganda" and historic over-use has caused this backlash.

There is no State-level or Federal-level law prohibiting their planting in Nevada.  Boulder City or Clark County may have some reference that I am unaware of.  In rural Nevada, the US Dept. of Agriculture's NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) has a program to pay for NV homeowners to voluntary remove naturally-occurring Pinon/Juniper, to aid wildland fire management and species encroachment...

For Boulder City, specifically, there is nothing in their landscape code restricting its use.

http://www.bcnv.org/communitydevelopment/BuildingDivision.asp

I would not be surprised if the NV, AZ, or CA state legislatures suggest it as a prohibited plant, in a few years.

Regards, ~Marc