Smithtown, NY Invasive Plant Rules: Bamboo Restrictions (2026)

Section 221-4A(14) forbids any owner, tenant or occupier of property anywhere in the Town of Smithtown from causing, suffering or allowing bamboo to be planted, maintained or otherwise permitted to exist within 10 feet of a property line, street, sidewalk or public right-of-way. The verb choice matters: 'maintained or otherwise permitted to exist' reaches running bamboo that spreads from an established stand into the buffer zone, not just a fresh planting, so a property owner cannot escape the rule by pointing to bamboo that predates the ordinance.

The same chapter's general liability clause, § 221-6, separately makes any owner who violates a provision of the Property Maintenance article liable for any defect, injury, fault or damage to a third party, which reaches a neighbor whose fence, foundation or drainage is damaged by bamboo rhizomes crossing the line. Enforcement follows the standard Article II path: a mailed notice to cure under § 221-36B gives the owner 72 hours to remove the encroaching bamboo, and if that lapses the Town Board can hold a hearing, remove it directly, and lien the cost against the property's tax bill.