Bolingbrook, IL Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

Section 34-9(b) of the Bolingbrook Code of Ordinances makes it unlawful for anyone to permit any weeds, grass or plants, other than trees, bushes, flowers, shrubs, vines, ground cover, common garden crops such as farm food, or other ornamental plants, to grow to a height exceeding six inches anywhere in the village, except in natural and buffer areas protected under the Illinois Natural Areas Preservation Act. Subsection (c) extends the same six-inch cap to the parkway, the strip of an owner's property between the curb or pavement edge and the property line, which the owner must keep neat, clean and orderly and free of weeds or grass over six inches, though flowers up to 18 inches are allowed there.

Subsection (a) separately names specific noxious weeds, including Canada thistle, perennial sow thistle, European bindweed, leafy spurge, Russian knapweed, hoary cress, ragweed, dandelion, jimson weed, burdock and cocklebur, as nuisances regardless of height. When a violation is found, the community development director's office mails written notice ordering abatement within five days, and an owner who cannot be located can instead be notified by posting a sign in the parkway; tampering with that posted notice is itself a separate violation. If the deadline passes without action, the village can cut the vegetation itself under the abatement article and place the cost, plus a lien, against the property. The section also lets the director declare a diseased, dying or view-obstructing tree a nuisance requiring removal at the owner's expense.