Monroe Township (Gloucester County), NJ Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Subsection C of § 162-4 in the Monroe Township Code, Gloucester County, reaches a lot on which no building is located by name. The front, side and back yards, driveways, walks and other outside parts of any building, and any lot with no building on it, cannot contain boxes, barrels, sticks, stones, bricks, bottles, cans, metal drums, iron pipe, old sheet metal, old furniture, used or unused motor vehicles or boats, auto parts, old tires, unused bicycles or parts, filth, junk, rubbish, trash or debris. Dead and dying trees, stumps, roots and obnoxious growths are on the same list.

Firewood and lumber get a stacking rule instead of a flat ban. Old lumber or firewood is allowed only if neatly stacked and not more than five feet in height, or piled on supports of least eight inches above the ground, and stored not less than one foot from the property line. The same sentence caps grass and weeds at a growth of 10 inches.

Chapter 162 defines PREMISES as lands and/or buildings thereon, so an empty parcel counts as premises for the duties in § 162-4(A). The owner, operator and/or registered agent must keep it free of nuisances, hazards and unsanitary conditions, including brush, weeds, broken glass, stumps, roots, obnoxious growth, filth, garbage, trash, refuse and debris. Brush, hedges and similar plant life within 10 feet of any roadway or within 25 feet of the intersection of two roadways must be cut to a height of not more than 2 1/2 feet.

Notice reaches an absentee owner through § 162-28. Notices are served personally or by registered mail, and if the whereabouts of the owner are unknown the notice is posted in a conspicuous place on the subject premises and forwarded to the tax bill address. If the owner does not act, the Township can direct abatement on proper notice, and § 162-24 charges the cost as a lien against the land, added to the next taxes assessed and collected in the same manner as taxes.