Gilroy, CA Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

Gilroy adopted the 2024 International Property Maintenance Code with local amendments, and Section 302.4 sets the operative standard: no owner, agent, lessee or occupant may let weeds or vegetation grow past twelve inches on any building lot or premises, or on the strip between that lot and the centerline of an adjoining public street or alley. Where overgrown shrubbery, vines or trees create an encroachment, harborage or shelter, the code official can order the property owner to trim, cut, destroy or remove the growth, or raise the vegetation canopy to seven feet above grade.

All noxious weeds are banned outright, and the amendment cross-references Municipal Code Section 12.45's definition, which sweeps in weeds that bear windborne seed, indigenous grasses that become a fire hazard when dry, other noxious or dangerous growth, and poison oak or poison ivy that threatens public health. Enforcement starts with a notice of violation from the code official in Community Development's building division; an owner who fails to cut or destroy the excess growth after service of that notice is prosecuted under Section 109.3, and Chapter 6's general violations clause, Section 6.16, makes any Building Code offense a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine, up to six months in jail, or both.

Separately, the city can still invoke the older nuisance-abatement track at Sections 12.46 through 12.56: the city council passes a resolution declaring accumulated weeds a public nuisance, the fire chief posts and publishes notice, the council holds a hearing on objections, and if the owner does not clear the growth the fire department may cut or disc it and bill the cost as a special assessment lien collected on the property tax roll.