Summit County, OH Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

Sec. 10(a) defines 'noxious weeds' as plants listed as 'Prohibited Noxious Weeds' in Ohio Administrative Code 901:5-37-01, and 'rank vegetation' as weeds or grass grown to a height of eight inches or higher on 'improved property,' a term covering any lot with a residence, business, or a required subdivision improvement. Subsection (b) declares that after May 1 each year, noxious weeds or rank vegetation found on improved property, or on the right-of-way of non-improved property, in any township of the county is a public nuisance; the section's own text limits it to townships, so it does not reach incorporated cities like Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, Barberton, Stow or Hudson, which enforce their own weed codes.

The Clerk of County Council must publish notice of that determination in a newspaper of general circulation every May 1. Under subsection (d), once weeds or overgrown vegetation are found, the township's Zoning Inspector serves certified-mail notice to the owner's tax mailing address giving five days from receipt to remove the weeds and cut the vegetation; if certified mail fails, the township mails a regular-mail notice and posts a copy on the property, extending the deadline to seven days from that posting. Under subsection (e), if the owner still has not complied, the township removes the weeds and vegetation itself, bills the owner for the cost, and if the owner has not reimbursed the township within thirty days, the township certifies the unpaid expense to the County Fiscal Officer, which becomes a lien on the property collected as other taxes. The current text traces to Ord. 2001-567, amended by Ord. 2011-364 and Ord. 2022-121, which narrowed the noxious-weed definition to protect pollinator habitat.