Vineland, NJ Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Section 247-2, distinct from the roadside height limit in § 247-1, is Vineland's general nuisance-abatement standard for overgrown and neglected land: citing N.J.S.A. 40:48-2.13, it prohibits any owner or tenant of a building, dwelling or lands from allowing brush, weeds including ragweed, dead and dying trees, stumps, roots, obnoxious growths, filth, garbage, trash and debris to exist on the premises, with no exception for lots that are vacant or unimproved. Section 247-2B lets the Director of Licenses and Inspections, Public Safety, Public Works or Health issue a written notice to the owner or tenant to clean up the property within 10 days.

If the owner does not comply, § 247-2C authorizes the City to remove or destroy the offending material itself and certify the cost to the City Council, which becomes a lien on the land collected in the same manner and at the same interest rate as property taxes; the collection of that cost is cumulative with, not a substitute for, any fine. Section 247-6 sets the fine schedule shared with § 247-1: $100 for a first offense, $500 to $1,500 for a second, and $1,500 to $2,000 for a third or later offense, with each day of continued violation a separate offense.

A related but separately fined provision, § 247-3, bars storing solid waste where animals such as raccoons, dogs, cats, birds or rodents can scatter it, carrying its own $500 to $2,500 escalating fine schedule under § 247-6B, useful where a vacant lot becomes an informal dumping site rather than simply overgrown.