Medford, OR Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

440 treat uncontrolled vegetation as both a fire hazard and a public nuisance. 430(1), makes it unlawful for any owner or occupant to let grass, weeds, brush, bushes or similar vegetation grow past ten inches tall between May 1 and September 30 each year, and the ten-inch limit can be enforced outside that window if the Fire Chief or designee determines the growth is a fire hazard; dead or dried vegetation over ten inches is automatically treated as a fire hazard under the section. Three narrow exceptions apply: ornamental shrubs and bushes kept in a landscaped yard, crops or pasture grass grown on land that is fenced, zoned, and lawfully used for agriculture, and natural areas inside a city park approved in writing by the Park Development Commission.

440: each year the City Manager may publish a public notice giving 21 days to cut or remove the growth citywide, and when an individual violation is found the city mails the owner and occupant a notice giving 15 days to comply. An owner can petition the City Recorder for hardship relief before or within ten days of that notice, with a further appeal to the City Council if the Recorder denies relief. If the growth still isn't removed, the city can abate it directly, tacking on an administrative fee from the current fee schedule and filing the full cost as a lien against the property that accrues interest until paid. 100.