(A) Weed growth prohibited. No person occupying any premises, and no person owning any unoccupied premises shall permit or maintain on any such premises any growth of noxious weeds; nor any growth of grass or other rank vegetation to a greater height than five inches on the average; nor any accumulation of dead weeds, grass or brush. NOXIOUS WEEDS shall include, but not be limited to, Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), dodders (any species of Cuscuta), mustards (charlock, black mustard and Indian mustard, species of Brassica or Sinapis), wild carrot (Daucus carota), bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), perennial sow thistle (Sonchus arvensis), hoary alyssum (Berteroa incana), ragweed (ambrosia elatior) and poison ivy (rhus radicans), poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix).
(B) Cutting of grass. Lawns shall be cut (grass can be no higher than five inches) and maintained 50 feet from the property line in developed areas, whether or not the same is occupied, and of a primary business structure. This requirement shall not apply to land used for agricultural purposes or to lowlands which are incapable of maintenance.
(C) Duty of occupant or owner. It shall be the duty of the occupant of every premises and the owner of unoccupied premises within the city, to cut and remove or destroy by lawful means all such noxious weeds and grass, at least once each year not later than the first of July, and thereafter as often as may be necessary to comply with the provisions of divisions (A) and (B) above of this section.
(D) Cutting by city. If any person shall fail to comply with the provisions of division (B) of this section by the specified time, the City Manager shall, through the Department of Public Works, cause all such grass and noxious weeds to be cut or destroyed upon lands of the person not complying with the provisions hereof. The Superintendent of the Department shall keep an accurate account of all expense incurred with respect to each parcel of land entered upon in carrying out the provisions of this chapter and shall make a sworn statement of said account and present the same to the City Manager. Said accounts shall become a lien and shall be collected as set forth in § 95.10(C)(5), (6) and (7).
(E) Notice of requirements. The City Clerk shall on or before the fifteenth of June of each year give notice of the requirements and provisions of divisions (A) through (D) above by publishing a notice thereof once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the city.
(F) Violation not excused; penalty. The fact that grass or noxious weeds are cut by the city and the cost thereof charged to or paid by the owner shall not excuse the owner from responsibility for the violation of this code thereby abated. Failure to cut grass or noxious weeds by the owner as required herein shall constitute a violation of this code punishable as a civil infraction regardless of whether such grass and noxious weeds are cut subsequent to the commission of such violation.
(Ord. passed 10-27-98; Am. Ord. eff. 7-17-06)