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

Section 136-3, added in October 2018 by Ordinance B-76, targets running and clumping bamboo by name and genus. Subsection B bans any owner, tenant or occupant from planting, installing or permitting the planting of running, monopodial bamboo or clumping, sympodial bamboo on any Hoboken property, naming eleven genera including Phyllostachys, Bambusa and Sasa as covered species. For bamboo already on a property before the ban took effect, Subsection C imposes a duty to confine it so it does not encroach onto a neighboring private premises or public place, unless the owner instead elects total removal, or can show the City Inspector that the bamboo actually originated on another property.

If a neighbor complains of encroaching bamboo, Subsection D requires the City to serve written notice by certified and regular mail on the bamboo owner and the affected property owner; the bamboo owner then has 45 days to submit a removal and restoration plan, and 120 days from plan approval to finish the work. An owner who does not complete the removal faces a citation and daily penalties under N.J.S.A. 40:49-5, enforceable in the Municipal Court of Hoboken, and the City can separately pursue civil injunctive relief.

Subsection E bars replanting or replacing running or clumping bamboo once it dies, is destroyed, or is removed, closing off any argument that a homeowner can simply regrow an established stand after cutting it back.