No owner or occupant of any property within the City shall allow the public nuisances, as defined in subsections A and B of this section, to exist or grow upon the property that they control or occupy. A representative of the City may come upon a property that is suspected to be in violation of this chapter to investigate the alleged violation, to conduct abatement, and/or to monitor abatement, of the nuisance.
A. Noxious Weeds: All noxious weeds are hereby declared a public nuisance. Noxious weeds include jimson, burdock, ragweed, thistle, cocklebur, and any other plant declared by the State of Illinois to be a noxious weed, pursuant to 505 Illinois Compiled Statutes 100/1 et seq.
B. Other Vegetation: All other weeds and grasses that are allowed to grow to a height of ten inches (10") or more are hereby declared a nuisance, and all shrubbery that is growing on, standing upon, or otherwise being uncontrolled on any property in such a way that it constitutes an obstruction to the traveling public in the City is declared a public nuisance.
C. Exceptions: The height restrictions of subsection B of this section shall not apply to ornamental or decorative grasses that do not obstruct the traveling public, to agricultural or farm land, including those lands registered as hayfields (including fields of rye, clover, and alfalfa), or to areas such as ravines, terraced slopes, and other areas with steep slopes on which sound erosion control practices would require the propagation of dense vegetation. However, in no event shall the vegetation in a hayfield be allowed to grow to a height of more than thirty six inches (36"). (Ord. 2012-7, 2-12-2013)