Dunwoody, GA Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

Section 8-86(a) puts a continuous duty on "every person, whether owner, tenant, agent, or employee owning, holding, or occupying property in the city" to keep it "in a clean and sanitary condition," specifically naming the duty to "cut and remove undergrowth, such as kudzu, briars, weeds in excess of ten inches in height, honeysuckle, other vines and seedlings," whenever it becomes a nuisance to neighboring residents or businesses. The community development director can relax that standard for an unimproved, vacant lot, but only if there is no imminent threat to public health and safety.

Enforcement runs through the city council, not directly through municipal court citations. The community development director or a designee must send five days' written notice by certified mail, and also post a physical notice on the property for five consecutive days, before the owner is called to appear before the council to show cause. If the council finds the property still out of compliance after the hearing, the owner gets five more days to cut the growth; if that deadline passes too, the public works director sends a crew to do the work.

The city then bills the owner for the cost of that mowing, and unpaid bills become "a debtor lien upon the property" itself, running from the date the work is completed. An owner has 30 days after the city sends the cost statement to pay, and if the 30 days lapse, the city clerk can issue an execution against the owner and the property, which the police chief can levy and sell to collect the debt, exactly as with a tax execution.