Flint, MI Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

Flint's approach to native-plant landscaping is voluntary and education-based rather than mandatory. The City does not impose a native-plant requirement on residential property. Urban-greening programs are robust: the Genesee County Land Bank Authority's Cleaner, Greener, Safer initiative (https://www.thelandbank.org/cgs.asp) is planting 1,600 native trees and cleaning non-structural blight on vacant lots, beginning in the 3rd Ward. The Genesee Conservation District's Industrial Environmental Impact Project removes dead trees, overgrown fence lines, and invasive species from vacant lots and replants with hardy Michigan native trees as a demonstration model for the City's 18,000+ vacant lots. ReLeaf Michigan (https://www.releafmichigan.org/) - the state's only urban-forestry nonprofit, founded 1988 - has helped plant trees in Flint and more than 700 Michigan communities. Native-plant resources include the Michigan Native Plant Producers Association, the Wildflower Association of Michigan, and the MSU Extension Master Gardener program of Genesee County. Michigan's Right to Farm Act (MCL 286.471-286.474, Act 93 of 1981, https://law.justia.com/codes/michigan/chapter-286/statute-act-93-of-1981/) provides nuisance protection for qualifying agricultural operations - 'farm or farm operation' broadly defined - and amendments in 2000 and after expressly preempt local ordinances that conflict with Generally Accepted Agricultural and Management Practices (GAAMPs) issued by the Michigan Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development. Urban-farming operations in Flint that qualify as 'commercial' under the GAAMPs receive partial preemption protection. Section 39-43 of the Flint Code still applies to neglected lots over 8 inches, but the 'rank, noxious, poisonous or otherwise harmful vegetation' language is read to permit a maintained, intentional native garden distinct from rank neglect.