Oxnard, CA Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Oxnard Code of Ordinances § 7-1 declares three categories of nuisance the city manager may abate on any lot, improved or vacant: weeds grown large and dry enough to become a fire menace or otherwise noxious, rubbish and tree leaves dangerous to neighboring property or public health, and any grass, dirt or structure blocking a public sidewalk, alley or thoroughfare. Section 7-2 defines WEEDS to include plants bearing downy or wingy seeds, sagebrush, chaparral, dry grass, stubble, brush, and poison oak or poison ivy. Section 7-3 places the duty squarely on "the owner of any property on or adjacent to which any nuisance is located" to "promptly abate such nuisance," whether or not the parcel carries a structure.

Under Sec. 7-4, the city manager mails a written notice to the address on the last equalized assessment roll; Sec. 7-5 prescribes the notice's wording, which gives the owner ten days to abate before the city does the work itself. An owner may abate at his or her own expense under Sec. 7-6, or contest the notice by filing a written appeal with the city clerk within ten days under Sec. 7-7. The hearing officer must schedule the appeal, give ten days' notice, and issue a written decision within 14 days of the hearing (Sec.

7-8 through 7-10); the property owner bears the burden of proving noncompliance was justified. 6 (Sec. 7-11). If the deadline passes uncorrected, the city manager abates the nuisance directly (Sec. 7-12), and the costs plus investigation, measurement and notice expenses become a personal debt of the owner and a lien against the property (Sec. 7-13, 7-14), later transmitted to the county auditor for collection on the tax roll (Sec. 7-18).