Battle Creek, MI Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

Battle Creek does not publish its own invasive plant list. Section 1262.04(d)(4) of the Zoning Code instead borrows the Michigan Natural Features Inventory list of invasive species: anything that list identifies as invasive is prohibited. Because the code points to the list by reference, the prohibited species change when that list changes, and a planting plan has to be checked against the current Michigan Natural Features Inventory list rather than a city handout.

The prohibition sits in Section 1262.04(d), Installation, Maintenance and Completion, within Chapter 1262, Landscaping and Screening. That chapter's purpose in Section 1262.01 is a high level of quality development and compatible relationships between land uses, so the rule bites hardest on site plans for new commercial, multi-family and parking-lot landscaping, where plant materials must be named by common and botanical name on a detailed landscape plan.

The neighboring paragraphs show how the ban works in practice. Under (d)(1), required landscaping has to be planted before a certificate of occupancy, or a financial guarantee in the amount of the landscaping cost can be placed in escrow, with a temporary certificate of occupancy available for seasonal limits. Under (d)(3) the owner has to keep landscaping strong and healthy, free from refuse, debris and harmful insects, and replace unhealthy, diseased, damaged or dead material within one year or the next appropriate planting period, whichever comes first.

Section 1262.04(a) requires plant material hardy to Calhoun County, Michigan and free from harmful insects and diseases, and subsection (b) caps any one species at 50% of landscape plant materials, waivable by the Zoning Administrator on written professional documentation.