Royal Oak Township, MI Invasive Plant Rules: Front Yard Gardens (2026)

Section 8-196(a)(4) sits in Article IX, Blighted Property, and applies to any property zoned for residential purposes that a person owns, leases, rents or occupies. It treats a visible front or side yard that is not landscaped and properly maintained as a cause of blight. The definition is a list of plantings: grass, ground covers, bushes, shrubs, hedges or similar plantings, plus decorative rock or bark designed and maintained in an appropriate manner, introduced with the words "includes, but is not limited to." The excluded materials are weeds, gravel, broken concrete, asphalt, decomposed materials, plastic sheeting, and indoor-outdoor carpet or any similar material. Section 8-196(a)(4) itself does not use the word garden or name vegetable plantings.

The weed article adds a height rule that applies to private and public land alike. Under § 8-51, it is unlawful for any owner, occupant, agent or person having control or management of land to allow poisonous or injurious weeds, other weeds or any species or variety exceeding eight inches in height, or wild growing brush or underbrush exceeding eight inches in height. Section 8-50 ties the poisonous or injurious list to the State Noxious Weed Act: Canada thistle, dodders, mustards, wild carrot, bindweed, perennial sowthistle, hoary alyssum, ragweed, poison ivy and poison sumac.

The Township Code Officer enforces the weed rules. Under § 8-52 the officer mails a written notice to abate within seven days. If the owner or occupant does not comply, the officer can assign Township employees or contractors to enter the land and destroy the growth by spraying, cutting or other methods without damaging the property or adjacent sidewalks. Expenses not paid within 60 days after the statement is forwarded go to the Township Board of Assessors, which assesses them against the land, and a failure to give written notice is not a defense.

Blight under § 8-195 is enforced by the Building Division, which periodically inspects the Township. Notice gives 10 days after service to remove the cause, and the Building Division can grant additional time where bona fide efforts are in progress.