Santa Barbara, CA Property Maintenance: Weeds & Overgrown Grass (2026)

The City of Santa Barbara addresses weeds and overgrown vegetation through Santa Barbara Municipal Code Chapter 8.20, 'Vegetation Obstructing Public Places.' Under this chapter, 'maintain' means to cut, clear, trim, remove or carry away as appropriate, and owners, possessors or persons in control of a lot have a duty to keep trees, hedges, shrubs, vines and plants from obstructing sidewalks and streets. The City declares the growth or existence of grass, weeds, rubbish or impediments to travel upon any sidewalk, between the property line and the street curb, to be a public nuisance, and prohibits owners from permitting such conditions in front of their property. Upon a failure to maintain vegetation, the Director of Public Works may mail a notice to abate the obstruction to the owner, and an owner who fails, neglects or refuses to perform the required maintenance is guilty of a misdemeanor under Chapter 8.20. For sidewalk-area nuisances, the City's abatement process gives an owner roughly ten days from service of a written notice to abate before the City abates at the owner's cost, with unpaid costs recoverable as a special assessment and lien against the property. Separately, dead grasses and weeds must be removed in the City's High Fire Hazard Areas under the adopted California Fire Code (SBMC Chapter 8.04). The City does not publish a single uniform turf-grass height limit the way some cities do; enforcement turns on obstruction, nuisance and fire-hazard standards. (Verify any specific abatement timeline against the current code text.)