(a) No person who is the owner and/or in control of residential or commercial land within the City shall permit to grow thereon any noxious weeds. Nor shall a person who is the owner and/or in control of or responsible for residential or commercial land within the City permit any overgrown unmaintained plants, weeds, or grasses, exceeding eight inches in height.
(b) Assessment by the Director of Public Service, or their designee, shall begin on April 1 of each year, and conclude on October 31 of each year.
(c) Whoever violates division (a) of this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor and shall be subject to the penalty provided in Section 698.02.
(d) For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) Noxious weeds shall have the same meaning as in Section 901:5-37-01 of the Ohio Administrative Code (as may be amended from time to time) and shall also mean poison ivy, poison oak, toxicodendron vernix (commonly known as poison sumac), and solanum dulcamara (commonly known as bittersweet or bitter nightshade).
(2) Turf lawn or mowed grasses means an area of turf grass not to exceed eight inches in height that, for the most part does not contain unmaintained plants.
(3) Turf grasses are narrow-leaved grass species that form a uniform, long-lived ground cover that can tolerate traffic and low mowing heights.
(4) Unmaintained plants means all plants or vegetation, except mowed grasses, turf lawns, trees, shrubs, cultivated flowers, gardens, or plants maintained as part of landscaping erosion control, or rain gardens.
(5) Weeds are plants that grow in a place where they are not desired and are not noxious weeds, and are not turf grasses.
(e) The prohibitions in this section do not apply to public parks or nature preserves, land being used for agricultural purposes, or land actively involved in construction. The prohibitions in the section also do not apply to vacant land except within the first 15 feet of the vacant land that abuts any occupied residential property (including abutting across a roadway).
The prohibitions regarding overgrown unmaintained plants, weeds, or grasses do not apply to portions of lots that are wooded with mature trees and left in a natural state.
The prohibitions also do not apply when overgrown unmaintained plants, weeds, or grasses cover only a small portion of the surface area of the parcel upon which they are located, which in the absolute discretion of the Service Director, or their designee, is de minimis.
(Ord. 1985-98. Passed 6-17-85; Ord. 2004-047. Passed 6-21-04; Ord. 2019-014. Passed 4-1-19; Ord. 2022-054. Passed 10-3-22.)