Bartow County, GA Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Bartow County Zoning Ordinance Sec. 2 sets the countywide grass-height standard: all property with a lawn, landscaping strip or other landscaping must be kept cut below 12 inches so shrubbery and weeds don't obscure windows or doors, and the same 12-inch cap extends specifically to vacant and undeveloped land within 25 feet of the back of the curb or edge of pavement, including vegetation growing in the right-of-way. The ordinance carves out one narrow exception for that 25-foot vacant-lot strip: trees larger than two inches in diameter at breast height (DBH) may be left standing even if surrounding brush has to come down.

A broader exemption applies only to grass fields grown for grazing, other agricultural purposes, and sod farms, and even that exemption never covers the front and side yards of an occupied residential structure, which must stay mowed regardless of the property's agricultural use elsewhere. The rule is meant to keep undeveloped parcels, subdivision lots awaiting construction, and land banked for future development from becoming overgrown nuisances visible from the road, and it applies the same way whether the vacant lot sits in a residential, commercial or industrial zoning district.