Petaluma, CA Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

075 of the Petaluma Municipal Code declares it a public nuisance for anyone owning, leasing, occupying, or having charge of premises in the city to let overgrown vegetation and weeds exist there. The section lists four separate ways that condition becomes a violation: causing detriment to neighboring properties or property values, creating a hazardous condition for pedestrians or vehicles, being likely to harbor rats, vermin or other nuisances, and, most concretely, letting grasses and weeds grow over six inches in height. That fourth clause is the flat numeric trigger that applies regardless of whether the growth is actually hazardous; a lot with grass taller than six inches is in violation on the height alone.

The same section separately addresses dead trees and debris as an unsightly, fire-hazard fuel source, so a property can be cited for overgrown live vegetation and for accumulated dead plant material under different subsections of the same nuisance list. 075(D)(4) is narrower than it looks: it reaches ordinary lawn grass and non-native weedy growth, not a genuine native planting, though native growth can still be cited under the broader detriment, hazard, or harborage clauses in the same subsection.