Macon-Bibb County, GA Landscaping Rules: Native Plants (2026)

Chapter 15, Division 2 of the Macon-Bibb County Code regulates weeds, debris, and inoperable vehicles as nuisances. Section 15-12 defines 'weeds' broadly as all objectionable growth, including weeds and grasses which serve as a breeding place for mosquitoes and other unhealthy or undesirable insects, or as a refuge for snakes, rats or other rodents, or that create a fire or traffic hazard or provide a hiding place for persons, but the same sentence immediately carves out an exception, providing that flowers, shrubbery, trees and other growth used as a part of landscaping shall not be included in this definition.

That means a deliberately planted native garden, pollinator bed, or ornamental shrub border is not weed growth for purposes of the county's nuisance rule, even if it looks unmowed compared to turf grass. Section 15-13 then sets the actual height triggers that apply to what is not exempted landscaping: a lot with a residential structure is a nuisance once weed growth reaches 12 inches, a vacant lot in a residential district at 18 inches, and any other lot or property also at 18 inches. A.

Section 41-1-7 shall also be exempt. Section 15-12 defines a wooded area as a dense growth of trees exceeding three inches in diameter, so an established stand of trees on a lot is exempt from the height limits in the same way a landscaped bed is exempt from the weed definition.