Chattanooga, TN Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

Sec. 21-136(a), the City's overgrowth standard, requires that all Premises and exterior property shall be maintained free from grass, weeds or underbrush in excess of ten (10) inches, bans noxious weeds outright, and requires that bushes, shrubs, vines, groundcover and decorative landscaping shall be properly maintained. A violation is prosecutable, and under Sec. 21-136(b) the City can send its own crew or a hired contractor onto the property to cut and remove the overgrowth, then bill the owner for the cost plus administrative fees.

Sec. 21-136(d) then carves out the exemption relevant to native and managed-natural landscaping: City approved RainSmart Yards and projects approved through the RainSmart Rewards program that adhere to the program's maintenance requirements shall be exempt from the provisions of this ordinance. That means a property owner who enrolls a yard in the City's RainSmart Rewards program and keeps it within that program's own maintenance standards does not have to keep the planted area under the 10-inch height limit, a meaningful allowance for native meadow plantings, pollinator gardens and stormwater-absorbing rain gardens that are meant to grow taller and denser than turf grass.

Sec. 21-136(c) adds a separate, unrelated exemption: the City cannot issue an overgrowth citation during a Mayor-declared natural disaster emergency in the affected location. Enforcement otherwise runs through the Code Official under Sec. 21-137, which requires written notice, a chance to remedy the violation, and a right to a hearing in City Court before the City abates the overgrowth and assesses the cost as a lien against the property.