Fitchburg, WI Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

Fitchburg City Code Sec. 37-69 requires all improved lots subject to article III of chapter 37, located within the urban service area, to be maintained free from plant growth exceeding eight inches, and requires all noxious weeds to be cut. The ordinance defines 'plant growth' broadly as all grasses, annual plants and vegetation other than trees and shrubs, but expressly carves out cultivated flower or vegetable gardens, prairie grasses, and native landscapes from the eight-inch cap. This sits within the property-maintenance article whose stated purpose, per Sec.

37-68, is to establish minimum standards for exterior property maintenance to preserve and promote the public interest. A property owner who wants tall grass beyond eight inches without violating this section has to go a different route: applying for a land management plan for a native landscape (Sec. 37-71) or a natural lawn (Sec. 37-72), which imposes its own maintenance conditions such as keeping terrace strips and property-line buffers trimmed. Enforcement runs through the building inspector, who can issue a notice of violation and a correction order under the housing-code enforcement chain in chapter 37, with an appeal available to the zoning board of appeals.