Brooklyn Park, MN Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

20(C)(4) carves the 'managed natural landscape' out of the city's general eight-inch grass and weed limit in Chapter 97. To qualify, the planting may include plants and grasses eight inches or taller that have gone to seed, but it cannot include weeds or noxious weeds, must avoid unintended vegetation, and cannot simply be a turf-grass lawn left unattended to return to a natural state. It also cannot include any planting that, by its location or growth habit, creates a hazard to the public or risks injury or property damage under other sections of the city code, and it must be established and maintained using generally accepted practices.

Once a managed natural landscape covers more than 25% of a yard's landscaped area, the owner must keep a buffer strip of at least three feet along the side and rear property lines, unless an opaque fence at least four feet tall runs along the shared lot line, the adjoining property is not residential, or the neighboring residential lot also has its own qualifying natural landscape covering more than a quarter of its yard. While the planting is being established and exceeds that 25% threshold, the owner must post a sign, sized between eight inches and one foot square, no higher than three feet and set back five feet from the property line, alerting the public that a managed natural landscape is underway; below that threshold, no sign is required.