Walla Walla County, WA Property Maintenance: Vacant Lot Maintenance (2026)

Section 8.24.010(B)(5)(b) applies the county's weed-height nuisance rule to vacant lots on property zoned in any urban classification under Title 17: grasses or weeds must not average more than twelve inches where visible by ordinary view from adjacent roads or properties. The subsection gives vacant-lot owners with two or more acres an alternative path to compliance, letting them mow an adequate fire and rodent barrier around the property instead of clearing the whole parcel. The rule sits alongside (B)(5)(c), which independently bans uncontrolled or uncultivated weeds and brush within the road right-of-way that create a sight hazard or that a county fire marshal or fire district chief declares a fire hazard, and (B)(5)(d), which exempts vegetation grown for agricultural purposes entirely.

A related zoning provision, Chapter 17.36 on nonconforming uses, governs how a vacant lot's development rights are treated separately from this maintenance rule and does not alter the weed standard itself. Enforcement of the vacant-lot weed rule tracks the rest of Section 8.24.010: violations are civil infractions under Section 8.24.020(B), notices can be issued by the Sheriff, the public health administrator, or the Community Development director, and each day of noncompliance can be charged separately. Fire-hazard-declared overgrowth instead becomes a misdemeanor under RCW 9A.20.021 per Section 8.24.020(A), and repeat or large-scale violators who ignore a Chapter 14.13 notice commit a gross misdemeanor under Section 14.13.100.