Hamilton County, TN Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- Art. V, § 307.F
- Species banned
- 16 listed, incl. kudzu, tree of heaven
- Applies to
- Required landscaping/screening plantings only
- Plan review
- Regional Planning Agency / Building Inspection
- Penalty
- $25-$100/day, Art. VIII § 105.B
Summary
Hamilton County's Zoning Regulations bar sixteen named invasive species, including kudzu vine, Japanese honeysuckle, privet and tree of heaven, from counting toward any required landscaping under Article V. The ban covers street-yard trees, parking-lot screening and buffer plantings on unincorporated county property, so a landscape plan listing a banned species will not clear review.
F. Prohibited Plants: The following plants are prohibited from being used to meet these requirements due to problems with hardiness, maintenance, and nuisance: Kudzu Vine, Purple Loosestrife, Japanese Honeysuckle, Shrub Honeysuckle, Autumn Olive, Common Privet, Tree of Heaven, Lespedeza, Garlic Mustard, Paulownia, Multiflora Rose, Siberian Elm, Silver Poplar, Mimosa, Mulberry, Silver Maple.
Full Breakdown
Article V, Section 307 of the Hamilton County Zoning Regulations sets installation standards for every tree, shrub and screen required elsewhere in Article V, including street yards (Section 303), screening between incompatible uses (Section 305) and landscape buffers. Subsection F, Prohibited Plants, lists sixteen species that cannot be used to satisfy any of those planting requirements: Kudzu Vine, Purple Loosestrife, Japanese Honeysuckle, Shrub Honeysuckle, Autumn Olive, Common Privet, Tree of Heaven, Lespedeza, Garlic Mustard, Paulownia, Multiflora Rose, Siberian Elm, Silver Poplar, Mimosa, Mulberry and Silver Maple, excluded for problems with hardiness, maintenance or nuisance.
The same list is repeated in Article VI's commercial telecommunication tower landscaping standards at Section 410(6), so it governs tower-site buffers too. The rule targets required landscaping, not a property owner's whole yard: the county does not order removal of volunteer kudzu or privet growing wild on a lot, but a developer's landscape plan submitted for site plan, subdivision or special-permit approval must substitute an approved species from the Class I, Class II, screening tree or screening shrub lists in the same section. Plan review runs through the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency and the Director of Building Inspection, who confirms landscape compliance before a certificate of occupancy issues.
Property owners maintaining required landscaping under Section 307E must replace any dead or diseased plant with a conforming species, so a banned tree that dies cannot be replanted with another banned tree.
Violations & Fines
A landscape or site plan naming a banned species is rejected at Planning Agency review, delaying permit issuance until a conforming substitute is submitted. Because the planting requirement sits inside the Zoning Regulations, general enforcement under Article VIII, Section 105 applies: a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $25 to $100, with each day a nonconforming planting remains counted as a separate offense.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use kudzu or tree of heaven to meet Hamilton County's landscape requirements?
Does the prohibited-plant list apply to plants already growing on my property?
Who reviews whether a landscape plan complies with Section 307?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Hamilton County
Compare Hamilton County to another location·View the Tennessee invasive plant rules overview
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