East Brunswick, NJ Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

East Brunswick Township Code § 61-1, Removal required, opens Chapter 61, Brush, Grass, Weeds and Other Debris. It applies when the Chief of Public Safety, a designee or the Code Enforcement Officer determines that removal is necessary and expedient for the preservation of the public health, safety and general welfare, or to eliminate fire hazard. The list of what must go is long: brush, weeds, dead and dying trees, stumps, roots, obnoxious growth, filth, garbage, trash, junk, debris and other waste materials. The owner or tenant then has ten (10) days after receipt of written notice.

Section 61-3 governs the notice. It can be served personally or by certified mail, return receipt requested, and for certified mail the ten-day period runs from the postmark date on the return receipt. Every notice has to warn that failure to comply means removal by a private contractor appointed and directed by the Township, and that the cost becomes a lien on the land, added to the next taxes and bearing interest at the tax rate. Under § 61-4 the contractor works under the Code Enforcement Officer's direction and certifies the cost to the Township Council, which examines the certificate and, if correct, charges the cost against the lands.

Two neighboring rules tighten the clock. Section 61-2 treats plant life more than two and one-half (2-1/2) feet in height, growing within ten (10) feet of any roadway or within twenty-five (25) feet of the intersection of any roadways, as a traffic hazard: the cut is due within ten (10) days of written notice, or within twenty-four (24) hours of personal notice for a serious traffic hazard (added 6-24-2024 by Ord. No. 24-15). Section 61-5 gives owners of land abutting public roads, sidewalks and gutters three (3) days after notice to remove grass, weeds and impediments.

Chapter 223 separately declares noxious plants, defined to include ragweed, poison oak, poison ivy and sumac, a nuisance, and § 223-3 bars any owner, occupant or other person having control of any parcel of land from causing or permitting them to grow.