Bothell, WA Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

BMC 8.24.045 A puts the duty on the owner of the property and on any occupant: abate the nuisance by destroying, removing or trimming vegetation, and remove or destroy any health, safety or fire hazard. Subsection B adds specific duties, including removing vegetation in or on any abutting sidewalk and removing vegetation constituting a fire hazard found on adjacent planting strips or alleys. A planting strip is the part of the street right-of-way between the property line and the curb, or the traveled portion of the street if there is no curb, excluding any sidewalk.

The code defines the hazards. A fire hazard in BMC 8.24.020 D is vegetation which is dry and combustible, including but not limited to weeds, grass or clippings, dead bushes or trees or their parts, and other combustible vegetative materials. It specifically excludes small logs and kindling used for firewood, vegetative materials used as compost for fertilizer, and decaying vegetation in wetlands and fish and wildlife habitat areas. Vegetation itself means trees, shrubs, grass, weeds, bushes, vines and other plant materials, including clippings, fallen leaves, fruit or branches. BMC 8.24.050 H then makes vegetation, refuse or feces constituting a fire hazard, a health hazard or a safety hazard a public nuisance, whether visible or not from any public street, alley or residence.

The community development director enforces under Chapter 11.20 BMC with a notice of violation that names the provision, the corrective action and a reasonable time for compliance. You have 15 calendar days after service to request an appeal to the hearing examiner. If the nuisance is not removed, BMC 8.24.060 B lets the city clean and level the premises at your expense, billed within 30 days, and a hearing examiner abatement order can give you a time limit not exceeding 30 days to do the work yourself.