9 rules for unincorporated York County, Pennsylvania.
Verified from official government sources
York County itself sets no grass-height limit. In Pennsylvania, tall grass and weeds are regulated by your borough, city, or township under the Municipalities Planning Code, so the cutting threshold depends on where you live within the county.
York County does not require a permit to trim a tree on your own property; any tree-trimming rules come from your borough or township. Inside York County Parks, however, county code flatly bans cutting, trimming, or defacing any tree without written permission.
York County does not require a permit to remove a tree on private property; tree-removal ordinances, if any, are set by your borough or township. Removing trees in York County Parks is prohibited without the Director's written permission.
York County Code § 75-9 (Destruction of Plant Life)
No Person shall: Cut, remove or destroy any tree, sapling, seedling, bush or shrub, whether alive or dead; or chip, blaze, box, girdle, trim or otherwise deface or injure any tree or shrub, or break or remove any branch, foliage, tree or shrub, or pick, gather, uproot, remove or destroy any flower, plant or grass except with the prior express written permission of the Director.
York County has no countywide weed ordinance. Noxious weeds and overgrown vegetation are declared a nuisance and abated by your borough, the City of York, or your township under local codes authorized by the Municipalities Planning Code.
York County imposes no countywide lawn-watering restriction. Limits, if any, are set by your water supplier (such as the York Water Company) or your municipality, and typically appear only during a declared drought under the state drought program.
Pennsylvania places no restriction on collecting rainwater, and York County does not ban it. Rain barrels and cisterns for garden use are legal statewide; larger or plumbed systems must meet the building and plumbing code enforced by your municipality.
York County does not require or ban native-plant landscaping. Native meadows and pollinator gardens are legal and encouraged, but any 'natural landscaping' exemption from weed-height rules depends on your borough or township ordinance.
York County has no rule on artificial turf. Whether synthetic grass is allowed, and any permit or stormwater requirement, is decided by your borough, city, or township zoning and building codes, not the county.
The York County Solid Waste Authority actively encourages backyard composting and mulch-mowing and runs a county yard-waste drop-off at the Resource Recovery Center. Nuisance limits on a compost pile come from your municipality.
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