Bowling Green, KY Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)
Key Facts
- Qualifying lot size
- Acreage or platted lots over 2 acres
- Mow buffer
- 50 feet from roads, structures, property lines
- Height limit in buffer
- Below 10 inches
- Other hazard rule
- Vacant lots named as attractive nuisances
- Enforced by
- Code Enforcement and Nuisance Board
Summary
In the City of Bowling Green, Kentucky, Sec. 27-4.07 of the Code of Ordinances singles out large undeveloped parcels: any acreage or platted lot over two acres without a structure must be mowed and kept under ten inches within fifty feet of any road, structure, surface improvement or property line. Sec. 27-5.05 separately flags vacant lots as an 'attractive nuisance' if left in a hazardous condition.
Undeveloped property (acreage or platted lots larger than two (2) acres without structures) shall be mowed and maintained below ten (10) inches within fifty (50) feet of any surface improvement, roadway, structure and/or property line. ... ... l. Attractive nuisances. The allowing of any physical condition, use or occupancy of any property or premises to be an attractive nuisance to children, or for illicit purposes, crime, drugs and/or vagrancy, including, but not limited to abandoned buildings, vacant lots, wells, shafts, standing pools of water, sinkholes, basements, excavations, retaining walls, and unsafe fences.
Full Breakdown
Bowling Green treats large vacant parcels differently from ordinary residential lots when it comes to mowing. The citywide weed rule in Sec. 27-4.07 caps plant growth at ten inches everywhere, but for undeveloped property, defined as acreage or a platted lot larger than two acres that carries no structure, the specific duty is narrower: the owner must mow and keep growth below ten inches only within fifty feet of any surface improvement, roadway, structure or property line, rather than across the whole parcel. That fifty-foot buffer targets the areas neighbors and the public actually encounter, while leaving the interior of a large open lot unregulated for height.
Beyond mowing, Sec. 27-5.05 makes it unlawful for an owner, occupant or person controlling any public or private land to let a public nuisance develop, and its list of nuisance conditions specifically names vacant lots among the 'attractive nuisance' hazards it targets, alongside abandoned buildings, open wells and shafts, standing pools of water, sinkholes, excavations, basements and retaining walls that could draw children or support illicit activity. A vacant lot left with any of those hazards, not just overgrown vegetation, exposes the owner to a nuisance citation under the same Chapter 27 process that handles other property-maintenance violations, run through the City's Code Enforcement and Nuisance Board.
Violations & Fines
A vacant lot with growth over ten inches within fifty feet of the road, an improvement or the property line violates Sec. 27-4.07 and is a declared nuisance. Under Sec. 27-5.05, a vacant lot that becomes an attractive nuisance, such as an open well, shaft, sinkhole or standing water, is separately unlawful, and both are enforced through the same Chapter 27 citation and Code Enforcement and Nuisance Board process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to mow my entire vacant 5-acre lot in Bowling Green?
Can the City cite me for an open well or sinkhole on my vacant lot?
How is the fifty-foot mowing buffer measured on a large vacant lot?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Bowling Green
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