Hamilton, NJ Invasive Plant Rules: Bamboo Restrictions (2026)

Hamilton Code § 362-1C(1) provides that any bamboo planted or otherwise permitted to grow on a property in the Township must stay outside a 40-foot buffer from the edge of the pavement or traveled portion of any public roadway. The same subsection requires every bamboo owner to take reasonable measures to keep the plant from invading adjoining or neighboring properties, specifically including installation of sheathing made of metal or another material bamboo cannot penetrate, buried at a sufficient depth along the property line where the running bamboo grows.

Subsection (2) defines "bamboo" as any monopodial, or running, tropical or semitropical grass from genera including Bambusa, Phyllostachys and Pseudosasa, as well as common, golden and arrow bamboo, so ornamental clumping varieties outside those genera fall outside this specific rule. Subsection (3) defines "bamboo owner" expansively: any owner, tenant or person in possession who planted it, grows it, maintains it, or simply permits it to remain, even bamboo that spread in from a neighboring lot, is treated as the bamboo owner unless that person proves they did not plant or grow it, notified the source property's owner of their objection within a reasonable time, and took steps, including legal remedies, to have it removed.