Skowhegan, ME Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Section II of the Property Maintenance Ordinance, adopted at the Annual Town Meeting on June 13, 2022, defines premises as a lot, plot or parcel of land including any structures thereon, and property as any lot, plot, or parcel of land. It defines grounds as the part of a property not covered by permanent structures. Section III applies the ordinance to all existing premises as minimum requirements for the maintenance of structures and the grounds of property, so an empty lot with no building is within its reach.

What the ordinance asks of grounds is in Section V.1: no exterior accumulation of refuse, household trash, junk, scrap metal, debris, scrap lumber and building materials, inoperable machinery, used furniture or unused and inoperable appliances, and no place with three or more junked, unserviceable vehicles. Materials for the owner's private use can be stored if screened from the public way and abutting properties; Appendix A requires screening to hide the items completely from ordinary view throughout the entire calendar year and to sit outside the public way right-of-way limits. The standards list refuse and junk; they do not set a grass or weed height.

Section VII covers vacancy directly. Vacant and abandoned structures shall be registered with the Town, and all vacant structures and premises must be maintained in a safe, secure and sanitary condition so as not to cause a blighting problem or adversely affect public health and safety or the value of adjoining properties. Separately, Section 405 of the Sewerage Ordinance requires owners of vacant lots abutting a street with an existing public sanitary sewer line to connect directly to the public sewer upon fifteen (15) days written notice by the Code Enforcement Officer if the street is scheduled for hot bituminous paving within six months.