Clackamas County has no ordinance requiring owners of vacant lots outside city limits to mow grass or clear vegetation. The county enforces only accumulated garbage (Ch. 10.03), illegal dumping, and dangerous structures. Upkeep on vacant land is the owner's choice unless a city or fire-district rule applies.
For unincorporated vacant parcels, the county explicitly states that properties outside city limits are not required to cut grass or remove vegetation such as blackberry vines or English ivy. There is no vacant-lot maintenance or weed-abatement ordinance. What the county will act on is dumping and garbage: piling trash, refuse, or debris on a vacant lot violates Chapter 10.03. In designated wildfire-hazard areas (Mt. Hood corridor and WUI), Oregon's statewide defensible-space program and local fire districts may impose separate vegetation-clearance duties. Inside cities, municipal weed and lot-maintenance codes apply.
No vacant-lot upkeep fine. Illegal dumping on the lot is a Ch. 10.03 violation with civil penalties up to $3,500; fire-district defensible-space rules carry separate enforcement.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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Backyard composting of yard debris and food scraps is allowed and encouraged in Clackamas County; no permit is needed for a home compost pile. Commercial-sca...
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Clackamas County has no ordinance banning or specifically regulating artificial turf in residential yards. Standard land-use rules on lot coverage, drainage,...
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Clackamas County does not mandate native-plant landscaping for private yards, but strongly encourages it and requires native-vegetation retention in protecte...
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Rooftop rainwater harvesting is legal in Oregon and does not need a water right. Clackamas County adds no ban. Collecting rain from an artificial impervious ...
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Clackamas County government sets no countywide outdoor-watering ban. Watering rules come from your local water provider (such as Clackamas River Water or Sun...
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Oregon law (ORS 569) declares noxious weeds a public nuisance to be controlled on all lands. Clackamas County runs the WeedWise program (since 2009) through ...
See how Clackamas County's vacant lot maintenance rules stack up against other locations.
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