Brookhaven, NY Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

Section 45-4E, added in 2009 and amended in 2018, imposes a general duty: any person owning, occupying or in control of private property in Brookhaven must cut, trim or remove brush, grass or weeds and eliminate fire hazards and health hazards on that property. For vacant, unoccupied, uninhabited or foreclosed properties where that duty is not met, the Town's Commissioner of Recycling and Sustainable Materials Management can act. The Commissioner first serves a notice, personally or by certified mail with a copy posted on the property, describing the condition and giving the owner at least 10 days to cut, trim or remove the brush, grass or weeds and eliminate the hazards.

If the owner does not comply within that window, the Commissioner directs Town labor and materials to do the work. All costs and expenses the Town incurs, plus a flat administrative fee of $500, are then assessed against the property; the Town Board sets the total and reports it to the Town Assessor, and the amount becomes a lien on the property collected the same way as other Town charges, exactly like unpaid taxes. Any portion of the collected funds that covers a Town department's own costs is returned to that department's operating budget.

This brush-and-fire-hazard duty sits inside § 45-4, the Sanitary Code's broader littering and dumping section, alongside separate duties to keep property free of litter (§ 45-4D), abandoned household contents (§ 45-4F) and junk vehicles (§ 45-4G), each enforced with the same notice-then-lien mechanism. The Commissioner may also enter private property at reasonable times to inspect for these conditions under § 45-3.