Leon County, FL Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

Sec. 14-40 finds that overgrown weeds, grasses, shrubs, bushes and underbrush breed snakes and vermin, breed mosquitoes, create fire hazards and threaten public health, safety and welfare. Sec. 14-41 turns that finding into a rule: overgrowth exceeding 18 inches on any lot or parcel, improved or unimproved, in a zoning district that permits residential development, is a prohibited public nuisance when it may become infested by vermin, breed mosquitoes, cause disease or create a fire hazard, unless it is being cultivated for ornamental purposes or intentionally designed as native landscape.

Sec. 14-2 defines 'overgrowth' the same way: herbaceous or woody plant life over 18 inches tall in a residentially-zoned district that is not cultivated ornamentally or designed as native landscape. Sec. 14-42 exempts lots under a conservation easement, or where mowing would conflict with a special development zone, buffer zone or environmental constraint requirement, from any mowing duty. Sec. 14-43 sends enforcement to the Code Enforcement Board under Chapter 6; if an owner ignores a compliance order, the county can abate the overgrowth itself under Article V.

County-funded mowing under Article V, though, only reaches a property the Nuisance Abatement Board finds 'abandoned,' meaning it shows no homestead status, overgrown or dead vegetation, unpaid taxes, utilities shut off, a stagnant pool, or statements from neighbors or officials indicating it is not lawfully occupied, combined with a finding that the overgrowth is a serious and continuing danger. Sec. 14-55 lets the County Administrator mow immediately, ahead of any hearing, if the overgrowth poses imminent peril.