Bloomfield, NJ Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Section 611-4(A) is the operative cleanup rule. It applies to any land in the Township and names no lot category, so a vacant parcel falls inside it. The Health Officer or a designee decides when removal is necessary and expedient for the preservation of the public health, safety and general welfare, or to eliminate a fire hazard. The list of things that can be ordered removed is long: brush, grass, weeds, dead and dying trees, stumps, roots, obnoxious growths, filth, garbage, bulk waste or items, trash and debris. Where the items pose no immediate risk to public safety, the notice goes to the owner, tenant or other person, firm, corporation or entity in control of the land, with a compliance time not exceeding 10 days when issued. Section 611-4(B) sets a deadline not exceeding 24 hours when more than three bulk or waste items are deposited at curbside or in public view from either front side line of the property and create a visible blight.

Related rules in Chapter 611 reinforce this. Section 611-2(E)(2) makes it unlawful to deposit refuse, rubbish or waste matter of any kind upon any field, vacant lot or building plot in the Township. Section 611-2(K)(3) caps grass and weeds growth at nine inches. Section 611-3(B) says open areas must be graded to eliminate holes, depressions, gullies, mounds, accumulations of debris or other unsightly or unsafe conditions. Section 611-3(C) declares a public health nuisance any matter that feeds or harbors insects or rodents, including burrows, any poison ivy, poison oak or poison sumac, and any water in which mosquito larvae breed.

If the owner does not comply in time, § 611-5 has the Health Officer remove the material under N.J.S.A. 40:48-2.13 and 40:48-2.14 and certify the cost to the Township Council of Bloomfield. The Council examines the certificate and charges the cost against the property, where it becomes a lien added to the taxes and carrying interest at the tax rate.