Edmonds, WA Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

041 declares a specific list of aesthetic nuisances that apply equally to a developed yard and to a vacant lot within Edmonds city limits, because unmaintained land can foster blight and depress neighborhood property values just as an occupied lot can. The prohibited conditions include any junk, trash or litter; salvage materials or lumber that are not neatly stacked; broken, soiled or discarded furniture or household equipment; junk vehicles, vehicle parts, or personal property left in partial construction or repair; unenclosed accumulations of building, landscaping or construction materials not tied to a current, active permit; and shopping carts not owned or used for their designated purpose on the premises.

A construction-materials pile is not a nuisance if it is directly associated with a project holding a current building permit, or, for work that needs no permit, is in progress or scheduled to begin within 10 business days. The chapter carves out two exceptions for the junk, salvage, furniture, and vehicle-parts categories: items wholly enclosed within a building are exempt, and items in a rear yard (or a side yard on corner and flag lots without a rear yard) are exempt if screened from adjoining properties and the right-of-way by a five-foot opaque fence or a five-to-eight-foot vegetative barrier providing an equivalent visual screen. 043).