Chicopee, MA Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Section 169-35 of the Code of the City of Chicopee, Litter on vacant lots, has two sentences. First, no person shall throw or deposit or cause to be thrown or deposited any litter on any open or vacant property within the City, "whether owned by such person or not," so dumping on someone else's empty lot is covered as clearly as littering your own. Second, the owner or person in control of the vacant property must maintain the premises free from litter at all times. The section prints no fine of its own.

Enforcement runs through § 169-36, Clearing open private property by City. The Building Inspector has power, under Chapter 139 and Chapter 111 of the Massachusetts General Laws as the section cites them, to abate a nuisance or health hazard caused by litter, and may notify the owner, agent or person in control to remove and dispose of it. Notice goes by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested. If the recipient fails to dispose of the litter within five days after receipt of written notice, or within seven days after the date of the notice when it is returned undelivered, the Building Inspector can pay for removal or order the City to remove it.

The City then bills the owner the actual cost, due and payable within 30 days. If it stays unpaid, the Building Inspector causes a sworn statement of the cost, the date of the work and the date of billing to be recorded through the City Clerk in the Hampden County Registry of Deeds. The cost is then charged on the owner's next regular tax bill, and the recorded statement constitutes a lien and privilege on the property, collected as taxes are and subject to the same delinquent penalty rate as unpaid tax bills.

Vegetation is regulated separately. Section 243-38 requires the owner or person in control of any parcel, including a vacant piece of property, to keep it free from overgrowth, meaning 12 inches or more, under a noncriminal $50 fine enforced by the Health Department.