Colonie, NY Fire Regulations: Brush Clearance (2026)

Albany County is in eastern New York, where the USDA Forest Service Wildfire Risk to Communities tool rates overall wildfire risk as low. The Town of Colonie is a developed suburban town of approximately 56 square miles with a mix of residential subdivisions, commercial corridors along Wolf Road and Central Avenue (US 9), and the Albany International Airport. There is no California-style defensible-space mandate. Vegetation control rests on two overlapping authorities. First, the Town of Colonie Town Code (eCode360 CO0290) Chapter 137 (Grass and Weeds) and Chapter 195 (Property Maintenance) require owners and occupants to maintain premises free of overgrown grass, weeds, and brush that constitute a nuisance, harbor rodents and vermin, or create a fire hazard. The Town applies a 10-inch height limit on developed residential lots, consistent with IPMC Section 302.4 as adopted statewide. Second, the New York Property Maintenance Code at 19 NYCRR Part 1226 (which adopts the 2020 IPMC with New York amendments) is enforced concurrently by the Colonie Building Department. IPMC Section 302.4 requires premises to be maintained free of weeds and plant growth in excess of the locally established height. Cultivated flowers, gardens, ornamental shrubs, and trees are exempt; uncut turf, fence-line weeds, and abandoned-lot vegetation are not. Vacant and undeveloped lots may have a different standard or be subject to a vegetation-management agreement with the Town. Code Enforcement inspects on complaint and issues a Notice of Violation; if the owner fails to cut within the time stated (typically 10 days), the Town may enter, mow, and bill the cost back to the owner as a tax-lien charge under NY Town Law Section 64(5-a) and the Town Code's cost-recovery provisions.