Burke County, NC Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

Sec. 10-61 of the housing code, titled 'Safe and sanitary maintenance,' lists the upkeep obligations tied to every dwelling in unincorporated Burke County, from weathertight exterior walls to graded yard drainage. Subsection (h), 'Noxious weeds,' states that every yard and all exterior property shall be kept free of species of weeds or plant growth which are noxious or detrimental to health. The section does not set a numeric height limit for grass or weeds; instead it ties the standard to whether the growth is noxious or a detriment to health, leaving the determination to the building code administrator during a fitness inspection under Sec.

10-33. That officer investigates dwelling conditions and can pursue a violation through the notice, hearing and order process at Sec. 10-36, the same procedure used for any other housing-code deficiency such as a rodent-prone gap in a foundation wall or a missing smoke detector. Because the noxious-weeds clause sits in the same subsection group as drainage (Sec. 10-61(g)) and rodentproofing (Sec. 10-61(a) through (c)), an overgrown yard that also creates standing water or shelters vermin can be cited on multiple grounds at once. The provision applies countywide outside the incorporated towns, each of which enforces its own code.