Nicholasville, KY Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

The eight-inch rule in Sec. 11-2(b) applies to the owner of any building or lot. It covers weeds, grass or plants other than crops, trees, bushes, flowers or other ornamental plants, and it reaches anywhere on the lot, including portions abutting any street, road, alley or other thoroughfare. Where a sidewalk, ditch, pathway, private roadway, fence or other natural or manmade boundary or divider crosses the lot, the rule also covers the portions between that boundary and the edge of the thoroughfare. Anything over eight (8) inches is declared a nuisance.

Sec. 11-2(a) separately names jimson, burdock, ragweed, thistle, cocklebur, poison ivy and poison oak, along with other weeds of a like kind, and declares them a nuisance on any lot or tract of land in the city regardless of height. Sec. 11-2(d) exempts property zoned for agricultural uses from subsections (a) and (b), but the exemption ends when the property has been planned for development and a subdivision plat reflecting it as residential has been filed of record in the zoning office.

The adopted property maintenance provisions print a second figure. Sec. 6-302(d) requires premises and exterior property to be maintained free from weeds or plant growth in excess of twelve (12) inches, prohibits all noxious weeds, and defines weeds as all grasses, annual plants and vegetation other than trees or shrubs, excluding cultivated flowers and gardens. The nuisance chapter's eight-inch limit is the stricter number and the one Chapter 11 pairs with its fine schedule. Cases are heard by the Code Enforcement Board, and after a final order the city abates the violation under Sec. 11-4(k)(3).