Yonkers, NY Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

The City of Yonkers regulates invasive species through its Zoning Ordinance rather than a freestanding plant ban. Section 43-8 defines 'invasive species' as a nonnative species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health, as identified by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, adopting the state's own determination rather than creating a separate city list. That definition is applied in two specific settings. First, for steep-slope development sites, meaning any site with more than 5,000 square feet of area and a slope greater than 15%, § 43-105B(1)(r) requires vegetative buffers between adjoining properties to be reestablished with vegetation similar to what already grows nearby, or with native or ornamental species, and states flatly that invasive species shall not be planted; the code also expresses a preference for preserving existing trees as that buffer rather than replanting.

Second, § 43-225, the downtown parking and access standards, requires all landscape material installed at off-street parking lots in the downtown districts to meet American Standard for Nursery Stock quality criteria and to use noninvasive species, whether in perimeter or interior parking lot landscaping. Outside these two contexts, planting an invasive species on private property in Yonkers is not independently prohibited by the Zoning Ordinance; the restriction rides on the site plan and downtown-parking approval processes, so it is enforced when a project comes in for Planning Board review rather than through general code enforcement patrols.