Dothan, AL Invasive Plant Rules: Bamboo Restrictions (2026)

Section 114-239 sets the plant list used to satisfy the landscaping standards in article XIII of the zoning chapter. After listing recommended canopy trees, understory trees and shrubs in subsections (a)(1) through (3), subsection (a)(4) flatly bars five plant types from being installed as landscape material anywhere the article's landscaping plan requirement applies: bamboo, cogon grass, kudzu, popcorn or Chinese tallow trees (Sapium sebiferum), and water grass. The code does not distinguish running from clumping bamboo or attach a setback or encroachment-liability rule to the ban, unlike some ordinances elsewhere; in Dothan the rule is a straight installation prohibition tied to the landscaping-plan approval process.

That process applies under section 114-238(a) to new development, to additions that grow an existing building's floor area, lot coverage or parking by 25 percent or more, and to any project for which development plans are required, across most non-agricultural zoning districts. A landscaping plan submitted for planning commission or staff review under section 114-238(b) that specifies bamboo, kudzu, cogon grass, Chinese tallow, or water grass does not meet the article's planting requirements and will not be approved. Because the prohibited-plant list sits inside the same article as the tree-preservation and buffer rules, the city horticulturist and the planning and development department administer it together with the plant-diversity standard in section 114-238(d), which separately requires new landscaping to favor native or non-competing exotic species over aggressive exotics.