Greenwich, CT Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

Section 11-2, dating to Ords. & Reg. § 9-2 of October 9, 1950 and sitting in Chapter 11, Article 1 (Public Highways), does not set a maximum weed or grass height on its own; it instead gives the Commissioner of Public Works discretion to order an owner or possessor of land adjoining a public highway to cut, mow and remove bushes, hedges, weeds, thistles and briars growing within the highway and in front of the land, once the Commissioner finds the growth constitutes a traffic hazard, a fire hazard, or a public nuisance.

The duty attaches to the owner or possessor of the abutting land, not to the Town, and is triggered by the Commissioner's finding rather than by an automatic seasonal or numeric standard. Because Greenwich's Building Zone Regulations, which would ordinarily carry any property-maintenance height limit, were removed from the Code of Ordinances at the Town's own request, § 11-2 is the only vegetation-removal duty printed in the Code itself. Article 1's general penalty clause in § 11-6.1, adopted under Ords. & Regs. § 9-5, applies to any violation of §§ 11-1 through 11-6, including a failure to comply with a Commissioner's order under § 11-2.