Novi, MI Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

Rather than printing a fixed list of banned plants, Section 21-16 lets the Novi City Council designate certain varieties and species of plants as injurious whenever it finds them actually or potentially harmful to public health, and it declares any so-designated plant a common nuisance the moment that designation is made. Section 21-17 then folds two categories into the removal duty: weeds already identified in Section II of Michigan's Act 359 of 1941 (MCL 247.62 et seq.), and any other varieties, species or plant growth designated by the City of Novi as poisonous or injurious under the council's own Section 21-16 authority.

Once a plant is designated or state-listed, Section 21-18 requires every owner, occupant or person controlling the land to cut and destroy it at least twice a year, in the last half of May and again in the last half of July, on the property and on the adjacent road right-of-way, or more often if needed to keep it from going to seed. The building official or ordinance enforcement officer must publish a biannual newspaper notice under Section 21-20 and follow up with a mailed ten-day notice to the owner of record under Section 21-21 before the city can enter and abate the growth itself under Section 21-22, billing the owner for the cost plus an administrative charge that becomes a property lien under Section 21-23.

This designation authority gives Community Development a mechanism to target a newly spreading invasive plant citywide without waiting on a state statute to add it to Act 359's list.