Westminster, CA Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

Westminster's weed and overgrowth rules live in its nuisance ordinance, Municipal Code Chapter 8.20. Section 8.20.030 (Declaration of nuisance) makes it a public nuisance for any person owning, leasing, occupying, or having charge of property to maintain or permit vegetation, including trees, weeds, shrubbery, and grass, cultivated or uncultivated, that is overgrown, dead, decayed, or diseased in such a manner as to permit the breeding or harboring of rats, vermin, insects, or other animals dangerous to public health, safety, or general welfare. The same section reaches stored materials, equipment, appliances, vehicles, broken or discarded furniture, boxes, lumber, junk, trash, or debris kept in yard areas in a manner detrimental to public health or to nearby properties. The City Council's stated intent in Chapter 8.20 was to define what conditions constitute a nuisance, set a method for giving notice and an opportunity to correct, and, if uncorrected, provide a second notice and a hearing before abatement. If the owner does not abate, the City may abate the nuisance and recover the cost of abatement plus administrative and lien-processing expenses, including by recording a lien and pursuing foreclosure. The Code Enforcement Division ('Codes for a Better Community') administers these property-maintenance complaints. Westminster's framework is comparable to California Government Code weed-abatement authority but is enforced under the City's own code; there is no separate seasonal mass weed-abatement assessment program described in the city pages reviewed.