Doña Ana County, NM Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Chapter 287, Article I of the Doña Ana County Code, adopted in 2007 by Ordinance No. and 4-37-1, defines PREMISES broadly in § 287-2 to include any real property, whether public or private, including vacant lots or lots with any type of structure. Its definition of SOLID WASTE in the same section sweeps in garbage, rubbish, refuse, trash, weeds, briars, brush, junk automobiles and other waste or unwholesome material. Reading those definitions into the operative rule at § 287-3A, no person shall allow any solid waste to accumulate upon premises which he owns, rents, leases or otherwise occupies or controls except in the manner provided by the article, so the county treats an unmowed, weed-choked vacant lot the same as any other prohibited waste accumulation.

Section 287-3B carves out a narrow exception for neatly stacked building materials tied to an active, permitted construction project, so long as the pile does not become a breeding ground for flies, insects or rodents or otherwise turn unsanitary. Enforcement runs through § 287-6: the county's Sheriff's Department and Environmental Codes Enforcement unit investigate complaints or visible violations, and if a property owner does not abate the violation within 30 days of written notice, the county may perform the abatement itself and place a lien against the property for its cost, collected the same way as other assessments under NMSA § 3-48-4 et seq.

Any person who violates the article is also subject to prosecution under Chapter 1's General Penalty article. Like the rest of the county code, this rule reaches only unincorporated Doña Ana County; Las Cruces, Sunland Park, Mesilla and Hatch enforce their own weed and nuisance ordinances inside city limits.