Landscaping Rules in North Carolina (2026)

Winston-Salem requires a city permit before anyone prunes, sprays, cables, braces, removes, or otherwise maintains a…

Asheville requires property owners to keep trees, shrubs, and vines on their land trimmed back so nothing projects onto…

Cary requires overhanging vegetation above streets, sidewalks and greenways to keep minimum clearance, from eight feet…

Charlotte prohibits letting vegetation protrude or hang over a street or sidewalk far enough to block pedestrians or…

Concord bans letting trees or vegetation obstruct traffic signs or block pedestrians and vehicles within a public…

Owners of property bordering a Durham street must keep trees trimmed so limbs don't overhang a sidewalk or city…

Durham sets no permit or height rule for pruning trees in your own yard. Tree rules bite during land development, where…

City crews or PWC can prune any tree overhanging a Fayetteville street or right-of-way to keep branches clear of…

Gastonia requires owners of property bordering a street to keep bordering trees pruned so limbs do not block…

Greensboro requires owners of trees overhanging any street or right-of-way to prune branches so they keep a clear…

The county sets no general rule for trimming trees on your own single-family lot. Trimming is regulated only where…

High Point, North Carolina requires trees, hedges, and shrubs to be trimmed back at least 6 inches from any sidewalk…

Landscaping in unincorporated Davidson County cannot be placed to block a motorist's view of a street, driveway, or…

North Carolina local governments cannot impose standalone tree replacement mandates on private property without…

Apex requires a Tree Removal and/or Pond Drainage Permit from the Planning Department before cutting trees to…

Removing a heritage tree in Charlotte, a North Carolina native tree that has reached 30 inches DBH, requires a…

Durham-Durham County's joint Unified Development Ordinance requires new development in the Urban, Suburban, and most…

In the Town of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, removing a tree from a town-owned right-of-way takes a permit, not…

Inside Pitt County's Southwest Bypass Highway Corridor Overlay District, the mandatory buffer yard must stay in a…

Shelby requires an urban forestry permit before anyone prunes, treats, plants, or removes a publicly-owned tree in the…

Wake County requires a tree and vegetation protection zone along new development sites to stay undisturbed unless the…

No one may remove a tree from public or private property in Wilmington without a tree removal permit from the city…

Asheville requires a tree removal permit before cutting any tree in a steep slope zone, an aquatic buffer, or an…

Buncombe County does not require a permit to remove trees on ordinary private property. The real county tree standards…

Cary's Land Development Ordinance requires builders to fence off and protect existing trees marked for preservation…

Concord requires a tree canopy assessment before any tree removal or land clearing on new or expanding subdivisions of…

Durham requires a tree survey and protection plan for land disturbance near buffers and protected trees. 'Major…

Fayetteville requires inch-for-inch replacement of trees damaged or unlawfully removed, replanted within 12 months…

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County requires tree preservation on development, not on routine homeowner tree removal. Any…

Gastonia requires a permit from the municipal arborist before anyone plants, removes, trims or cuts a tree covered by…

When Greensboro removes a tree from city-owned property, streets, medians or parks, Section 19-41.1(d) requires the…

Unincorporated Guilford County has no stand-alone tree-cutting permit; clearing more than one acre, disturbing highly…

Required canopy trees, understory trees, and shrubs on High Point commercial, multifamily, and mixed-use sites can't be…

When Raleigh issues a tree conservation permit under UDO Sec. 9.1.6, the property owner must replace every removed…

Development in unincorporated Union County that removes trees outside the buildable area must replace them under UDO…

Cutting, removing, or damaging a tree on Winston-Salem public property or street right-of-way requires a permit from…

Alamance County protects the tree canopy inside the shared common area of cluster and planned unit developments sited…

Cleveland County has no general permit requirement for removing trees or shrubs on private land in the unincorporated…

Fayetteville sets no numeric grass height. Overgrowth is enforced as a public health nuisance under Sections 22-16 and…

Turfgrass, weeds, vines, or briars over eight inches anywhere in Apex are a declared public nuisance, and vacant lots…

Asheville City Code Sec. 15-6 requires every landowner, occupant or tenant to keep land clear of weeds, grass, trash…

The Town of Cary bars any responsible person from letting vegetation grow past eight inches near streets, sidewalks, or…

Charlotte caps grass, weeds and other vegetation at 12 inches on any premises, and a property owner or occupant who…

Cleveland County's Sec. 3.7-1 declares overgrown grasses, vegetative growth and rank vegetation on any parcel with an…

Concord caps weeds and grass near any dwelling or occupied structure at 8 inches; once it grows taller, the property is…

Cornelius treats overgrown weeds, noxious plants, and rank vegetation as a public nuisance. Property owners must keep…

Cumberland County's Minimum Housing Code requires every yard and exterior property area to stay free of noxious weeds…

Durham's nuisance-abatement code caps weeds, grass, vines, and briars at 10 inches within 100 feet of a street or 50…

Durham declares dense weeds, vines, briars and undergrowth a public nuisance when they harbor pests or sit near…

Forsyth County's Minimum Housing Standards require that yards and areas surrounding an occupied dwelling be kept free…

In the unincorporated county, weeds or grass grown twelve inches or higher within 100 feet of a residential or occupied…

Gastonia bans letting weeds or grass grow 12 inches or taller within 100 feet of any structure, and property owners…

Greensboro's nuisance ordinance bans grass, weeds, and other noxious vegetation over twelve inches tall on any lot in…

Sec. 15-79(h) of Guilford County's Minimum Housing Standards requires every yard and exterior property area to stay…

High Point, North Carolina treats dense weeds, grass, or noxious vegetation taller than 12 inches on any lot as a…

Huntersville treats noxious weeds and overgrown vegetation as public nuisances under Chapter 90. Owners must maintain…

In the Town of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, uncontrolled weeds or grass over 24 inches on an improved lot is…

Lincoln County's fire nuisance chapter requires every property owner or occupant to cut down and remove weeds, grass…

Sec. 23-72(5) declares the uncontrolled growth of weeds or turf grass to a height of one foot or more within 50 feet of…

Beyond mowing height, overgrown and neglected lots are handled as public nuisances. Orange County's nuisance-abatement…

Raleigh caps weeds and grass at 8 inches on any lot within 100 feet of a street or a neighboring dwelling/commercial…

Under the county's minimum housing standards, yards around dwellings must stay free of noxious weeds and tall grass…

Rose Hill caps weeds, grass and other uncultivated plant growth at 24 inches under § 91.02, and § 91.03(F) makes it…

Shelby treats grass, weeds, and rank vegetation 18 inches or taller as a public nuisance when it's within 150 feet of a…

Wake County, North Carolina enforces overgrown-lot and weed-nuisance complaints in unincorporated Wake County through…

Wilmington requires every owner, lessee, or occupant to keep their property clear of weeds, bushes, and wild growth…

Winston-Salem caps grass and weeds at eight inches on residential and business lots citywide, with owners liable for…

Brunswick County's Water Emergency Ordinance lets the public utilities director impose three escalating stages of…

When Durham declares a water shortage, Section 70-566 layers mandatory stages on top of the year-round sprinkler…

Durham County bans or limits lawn and garden watering once University Lake, the reservoir behind the county's Orange…

Johnston County classifies outdoor irrigation of lawns, gardens, golf courses and playing fields as a 'Class 3…

Kill Devil Hills has no year-round watering-day schedule; instead the Mayor can declare a four-stage water shortage…

When the County Manager declares a Stage 2, 3, or 4 water shortage on the county water system, watering lawns, gardens…

Customers of the Moore County Public Utilities (Addor) water system face staged, mandatory irrigation cutbacks once the…

Rockingham County enforces tiered water-shortage restrictions on lawn watering and other uses whenever a supplying…

During a declared Stage II water shortage, Shelby bans sprinkler and hose-fed lawn irrigation, allowing only hand-held…

Unincorporated Union County water customers face year-round mandatory irrigation limits under Union County Code of…

Apex requires odd-numbered addresses to water lawns Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and even-numbered addresses…

The Town of Cary limits outdoor irrigation from its water system to alternate days assigned by street address, with…

Charlotte Water (CMU) can impose mandatory watering-day, time-of-day, or complete bans on irrigation once the city…

Concord ties lawn watering to a four-level water emergency scale set by the city manager. At Level II, irrigation is…

Fayetteville PWC water customers follow a year-round odd-even sprinkler schedule: even-numbered addresses water Monday…

Fayetteville's Public Works Commission runs a year-round mandatory watering schedule keyed to the last digit of your…

Once the Harnett County Department of Public Utilities Director declares a Stage II water shortage warning, irrigation…

High Point only restricts lawn watering to odd or even calendar days, based on address, once the city formally declares…

Every new permanent in-ground irrigation system installed in Raleigh since July 1, 2010 must be individually metered…

Rose Hill's Water Shortage Response Plan sets five escalating stages that cap lawn and landscape irrigation. Stage 1…

Wake County water customers in unincorporated areas served by City of Raleigh Public Utilities follow Raleigh's Water…

North Carolina makes water reuse, including captured rainwater, official state policy, and residential rain barrels…

Concord's Development Ordinance treats rain barrels and cisterns as one compliance path for Low Impact Development…

Johnston County's stormwater ordinance recognizes rainwater harvesting as an approved primary stormwater control…

In Asheville's Urban Place Form District, rain barrels and cisterns up to six feet tall are treated as approved low…

Buncombe County does not require rainwater harvesting, but its zoning code rewards it. A Community Oriented Development…

Durham does not mandate rainwater harvesting citywide, but its Unified Development Ordinance rewards it downtown. A…

In unincorporated Union County, the Unified Development Ordinance treats rainwater harvesting equipment, such as a…

The Town of Cary's alternate-day watering rule for landscape irrigation applies only to potable town water, so…

Fayetteville lists Rainwater Cistern as a permitted accessory use across residential and most other zoning districts…

Raleigh's Unified Development Ordinance treats rain barrels, cisterns and other rainwater collection or harvesting…

Apex's Unified Development Ordinance requires all new landscaping on developed sites to be native or adaptive plant…

Buncombe County does not require native landscaping on ordinary lots, but in the Steep Slope and Protected Ridge…

Durham lies in the Neuse River and Falls Lake watersheds, where state and UDO riparian buffer rules require a 50-foot…

Fayetteville's UDO requires that at least 50 percent of all new trees planted under the landscaping standards be native…

Since 2024 Winston-Salem lets residents replace lawns with registered Natural Landscape Areas of native plants. Turf…

Guilford County does not mandate native plants for private yards, but its Unified Development Ordinance sets planting…

Brunswick County's Unified Development Ordinance directs that required landscape plans favor native vegetation and…

The Town of Cary exempts intentionally planted landscaped areas and heavily wooded lots from its 8-inch vegetation…

Greensboro lets homeowners keep natural landscape areas and wooded yards instead of a mowed lawn under City Code §…

Apex's Unified Development Ordinance allows artificial turf as a grass substitute only where the Planning Director…

Buncombe County has no ordinance prohibiting artificial turf on residential property. In the Steep Slope and Protected…

Guilford County has no ordinance banning or specifically regulating artificial turf on residential lots. Because turf…

High Point's Development Ordinance excludes artificial turf from the 'built-upon area' impervious-surface count, as…

Raleigh's stormwater rules treat properly installed artificial turf as 0% built-upon area, the same as bare soil, if…

Rowan County's zoning code excludes artificial turf from the definition of 'built-upon area' under Section 21-4, so a…

Wake County does not count artificial turf as impervious surface when it's installed over a pervious base per the…

Apex requires yard waste to be separated from household garbage and placed loose, not bagged or containerized, at the…

Cabarrus County's only composting standard sits inside its backyard chicken-keeping rule: if a keeper composts chicken…

Cary allows residential composting of on-site waste as long as the pile sits at least 25 feet from any dwelling…

Backyard composting is legal in unincorporated Durham County under Code Sec. 20-12, but piles must sit at least 25 feet…

Backyard composting for your own yard and food waste is allowed; the county has no ordinance banning home compost bins…

Raleigh's nuisance code treats uncollected garbage and yard waste as a public nuisance, but §12-6002(i) carves out a…

Concord's nuisance ordinance carves compost piles out of its garbage-and-putrescible-matter nuisance ban, so a properly…

Cumberland County does not regulate residential composting or require bins, permits, or setbacks. County Code Sec…