Cary, NC Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

Wake County, North Carolina does not maintain a freestanding "weed ordinance" with a single numeric grass-height threshold. Instead, overgrown vegetation, weeds, and tall grass on unincorporated parcels are addressed through the public-health nuisance abatement authority that the General Assembly grants to all 100 North Carolina counties in N.C. Gen. Stat. §153A-140. That statute provides, in relevant part, that "A county shall have authority by ordinance to require that conditions detrimental to the public health be corrected, and to provide that, upon the failure of the owner of real property to correct such conditions, the county may cause such corrections to be made, and the cost of such corrections shall be a lien on such real property." It further authorizes the county "to remove, abate, or remedy everything that is dangerous or prejudicial to the public health or safety."

The entry point for an unincorporated-Wake-County complaint is Wake County Planning, Development & Inspections, which administers the Wake County Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) and coordinates enforcement of county nuisance provisions. The office is located on the first floor of the Waverly F. Akins Wake County Office Building at 336 Fayetteville Street, Raleigh, NC 27602; the main planning line is (919) 856-6310 and the email is wake.planning@wake.gov. A complaint will trigger a field inspection, and — because Wake County applies a nuisance / health-and-safety standard rather than a fixed inch-count — the inspector will document whether the overgrowth has become a public-health or safety problem: harboring rats, snakes, or mosquitoes; creating a fire hazard adjacent to structures; attracting illegal dumping; impeding sight lines at intersections; or otherwise endangering neighbors. If those criteria are met, the county will mail a notice of violation requiring the owner to abate the condition by a date certain.

County jurisdiction stops at the city line. Wake County contains 12 incorporated municipalities — the City of Raleigh, Town of Cary, Town of Apex, Town of Holly Springs, Town of Fuquay-Varina, Town of Garner, Town of Knightdale, Town of Wake Forest, Town of Morrisville, Town of Rolesville, Town of Wendell, and Town of Zebulon — and each has its own property-maintenance and tall-grass code enforced by a municipal code enforcement office. For example, in the City of Raleigh, City Code Section 12-3009 (grass and weeds) is enforced by the City of Raleigh Housing & Neighborhoods Department; in the Town of Cary the equivalent rule is administered by Cary Code Enforcement. Complaints about a parcel inside a municipality must be made to that municipality, not to Wake County.

Noxious-weed eradication for agricultural pests (e.g., kudzu, cogongrass, witchweed) is governed separately by North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 106, Article 36 (Noxious Weed Act) and administered by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Plant Industry Division — not by county zoning or code enforcement. Property owners who suspect a designated noxious weed on their property should contact NCDA&CS Plant Industry rather than Wake County code enforcement.