Butte County Code Chapter 32A and California Health & Safety Code section 14875 declare overgrown grass, weeds, brush, and other flammable vegetation a public nuisance subject to abatement, but the County Code does not fix a specific inch-height limit. Defensible-space clearance standards (PRC 4291) and CAL FIRE annual inspections drive practical compliance.
Butte County Code Chapter 32A (Property Maintenance and Abatement of Nuisances), adopted by Ordinance 3824 (July 23, 2002) and amended through Ordinance 4000 (2009), declares a public nuisance to exist when conditions on a property are 'injurious to health, pose a significant potential to cause economic and/or physical injury or damage to persons or property, or constitute[] a significant detriment to the prevention or suppression of fire' (section 32A-2(a)(1)). California Health & Safety Code section 14875 defines 'weeds' subject to abatement to include 'weeds that bear seeds of a downy or wingy nature,' 'sagebrush, chaparral, and any other brush or weeds which attain such large growth as to become, when dry, a fire menace to adjacent improved property,' 'weeds which are otherwise noxious or dangerous,' and 'dry grass, stubble, brush, litter, or other flammable material which endangers the public safety by creating a fire hazard.' Unlike some California counties (Placer, Marin), Butte County's code does NOT set a specific maximum grass height in inches; instead it relies on case-by-case 'hazardous vegetation' determinations by CAL FIRE / Butte County Fire under PRC 4291 within the State Responsibility Area, and on Chapter 32A nuisance determinations by the Department of Development Services elsewhere. The Health & Safety Element (Policy HS-P9.7) requires that 'Regulations regarding fire-safe vegetation clearance and maintenance around structures . . . shall be maintained and enforced.'
Under Chapter 32A, the Department of Development Services issues a notice to abate, holds a hearing before a Hearing Officer, and may order abatement at the owner's expense. Abatement costs (enforcement, investigation, attorneys' fees, contractor charges) and administrative costs become a special assessment / lien against the parcel collected on the tax roll (section 32A-7). PRC 4291 violations in the SRA are infractions: up to $500 for a first offense, $500 for a second within five years, and $1,000 for a third within five years (PRC 4291(g)).
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Butte County, CA
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See how Butte County's grass height limits rules stack up against other locations.
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