Lower Merion, PA Invasive Plant Rules: Bamboo Restrictions (2026)

Section 59-1A(3) of the Lower Merion Township Code defines bamboo as any monopodial, or running, tropical or semitropical grass of the genus Bambusa, and Section 59-1B declares it a nuisance plant that no landowner or occupant may propagate or allow to grow on land in the Township. The code carves out a qualified exemption for bamboo that was already propagated or growing before May 18, 2016, the date the Board of Commissioners amended the chapter by Ordinance No. 4083, and that older bamboo may remain in place.

The exemption stops, however, at the property line: it does not extend to bamboo that migrates or falls onto Township-owned land or a public or private right-of-way. Section 59-2D turns that same 20-foot buffer into an affirmative duty. If pre-2016 bamboo encroaches within 20 feet of an adjoining property line or a right-of-way, the owner must remove the bamboo and install an impenetrable barrier to stop further spread. The barrier itself has to meet a materials specification: masonry, metal, or high-density, eighty-mil-thick polyethylene, sunk to a depth of 30 inches below grade and rising two to three inches above grade, placed at least 20 feet from the property boundary.

Section 59-2D(2) lets the Director of Building and Planning modify those requirements if removal or the barrier is impractical or would unreasonably disturb natural features, and Section 59-2D(3) makes the failure to remove the bamboo and the failure to install the barrier separate violations. An owner may raise the pre-2016 planting date or a prior removal effort as a defense to a notice of violation under Section 59-2C, appealing to the Director of Building and Planning within 14 days. Ignoring the notice risks the same abatement and fine process, up to $600 per offense, that applies to Chapter 59's other nuisance vegetation.