Springfield, OH Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Springfield Codified Ordinances Section 909.02(b) sets a distinct standard for larger vacant and unimproved tracts: for any parcel greater than 4 acres, whether improved, unimproved, vacant or occupied, the owner, occupant or person in charge must cut and destroy or remove weeds and rank vegetation growing within 100 feet of any public right-of-way, within 100 feet of any property line abutting residential property, or between the parcel's property line and the center line of an abutting street. As with smaller lots, the goal is to keep the vegetation from blooming or going to seed, and any cutting must leave stubble no taller than 4 inches.

This buffer approach means a large vacant field does not have to be mowed edge to edge, only the perimeter strips nearest the street and neighboring homes, which is the practical difference from the 4-acre-or-less rule in Section 909.02(a). If the owner of a noncompliant vacant parcel does not act, Section 909.03 lets the Code Enforcement Manager have the nuisance vegetation cut or destroyed by the City, with the assistance of the Director of Law, and collect the full cost of labor, equipment and service of notice through the legal process available for debt collection, rather than through a lien.

Section 909.04 caps written notice at once per calendar year per parcel and makes clear that notice is not a precondition to the City abating the nuisance.