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

02 finds that weeds, grasses, shrubbery, brush and noxious materials tend to be breeding places or havens for snakes and vermin, breed mosquitoes, create a fire hazard, or otherwise create a nuisance or unsightly or unsanitary condition, and declares the county's intent to prohibit their excessive accumulation. Subsection A sets the operative standard: vegetation on any lot or parcel, improved or unimproved, in a residential or mixed-use zoning district that exceeds 18 inches in height is a declared public nuisance if it may become infested with rats or vermin, breed mosquitoes, cause disease, or create a fire hazard.

Intentionally designed native landscapes are carved out of the prohibition entirely. Subsection B adds a broader carve-out for land required to stay in a natural state: conservation easements, natural community preservation areas, shoreline buffers, Wetland Protection Zones and the Coastal Dune Lake Protection Zone are not required to be mowed or cleared, nor is any area where mowing would conflict with a special development zone, buffer zone or other environmental constraint, a meaningful limit in a county whose Resource Protection Standards cover dune lakes and wetlands throughout South Walton. 02, then a citation or Code Enforcement Board referral if the growth isn't cut back.