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

IMC 16.06.045 rewrites Section 304.1.2 of the 2021 International Fire Code, which Issaquah adopted by reference in IMC 16.06.010. The Issaquah text is one sentence: weeds, grass, vines or other growth that is capable of being ignited and endangering property shall be cut down and removed by the owner or occupant on building lots that are either open or contain an occupied or vacant structure. Two features matter for vacant land. The duty reaches an open lot with nothing built on it, and it also reaches a lot holding a vacant building, so leaving a lot or structure empty does not remove the obligation. And the duty sits on the owner or occupant, so a tenant in possession and the titleholder are both within its wording.

The section prints no height limit, no mowing calendar and no dollar figure. The trigger is the condition itself: growth capable of being ignited and endangering property. The fire code official, which IMC 16.06.040 defines as the fire marshal or his or her designee, decides whether a given lot meets that test.

Issaquah also removed the model property-maintenance weed rule. IMC 16.04.100 adopts the International Property Maintenance Code and then deletes its Section 302.4, Weeds, which leaves the fire code sentence as the weed rule for building lots. Separate nuisance language in new Section 302.11 of that code covers any hole, excavation or pit on public or private property that is reasonably dangerous to the public or adjacent property.

Orders from the fire code official can be appealed. IMC 16.06.035 sends appeals of orders, decisions or determinations made by the Fire Official to the City of Issaquah hearing examiner. An appeal must claim that the true intent of the code was incorrectly interpreted, that its provisions do not fully apply, or that an equally good or better form of construction is proposed, and the hearing examiner has no authority to waive requirements of the code.