Putnam County, FL Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

Putnam County Code § 8-187(a)(10) sets the county's overgrown-vegetation rule inside its list of substandard-premises conditions: 'growth of grass, weeds, underbrush, etc., which in the determination of the county fire marshall constitutes a fire danger.' Unlike many local weed ordinances, Putnam County does not set a fixed inch or foot height limit; instead the trigger is the fire marshal's own determination that the vegetation has become a fire hazard, giving the fire marshal discretion tied to actual fuel-load conditions rather than a bright-line measurement. The rule sits in Article VI of Chapter 8, the county's Nonresidential Property Maintenance Code, alongside the article's other listed premises conditions such as junk and debris accumulation, lack of landscaping maintenance, and combustible-material accumulation, all of which the manager of codes enforcement and the fire marshal can rely on together when a single overgrown lot presents more than one problem.

Once the fire marshal makes that determination, the property is declared a substandard premises, and the manager of codes enforcement, within the department of planning and development services, can inspect under Sec. 8-189 and move the matter toward a special magistrate hearing. As with the article's other substandard-premises findings, an owner or occupant found in violation may appeal the special magistrate's decision to the circuit court within 30 days of the order under Sec. 8-190.