Ankeny, IA Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Ankeny's Chapter 167 Noxious Weeds ordinance reaches every vacant and unimproved lot in the city, not just occupied residential yards. Section 167.02, Vegetation Height Restrictions, makes it the duty of every owner or person in possession or control of land within the City to keep that land free of weeds, vines, brush or other vegetation whenever the growth becomes a health, safety or fire hazard, even if the growth does not meet the state's separate definition of a noxious weed under Iowa Code Chapter 317.

The section sets a hard number: no person may allow grass, weeds, volunteer or weed trees, or other vegetation to grow past twelve inches anywhere on their property. If a vacant lot exceeds that height, the City may cut or eliminate the growth itself, but only after mailing the owner or occupant five days' written notice; a failure to actually receive that mailed notice is not a defense once it has been sent. Section 167.03 then shifts the cost of any City-performed cutting onto the landowner: the City Council tallies labor and materials, adds an administrative fee set by Council resolution, and certifies the total to the Polk County Treasurer to be collected as a special assessment, the same way unpaid property taxes are collected.

Section 167.04 carves out exceptions from the twelve-inch cap, including cultivated fruit, vegetable and flower gardens, erosion-control plantings, and wooded areas over one acre in size, so a heavily treed vacant parcel is not automatically in violation.