The city of Burns Nuisance Vegetation Ordinance is designed to minimize fire and health hazards by controlling flammable vegetation. Overgrown vegetation can create fire and traffic hazards and is a violation of nuisance ordinances in the Burns City Code. On June 1, the city of Burns began to take action to make sure that overgrown grass and weeds and other forms of nuisance vegetation are controlled.

Property owners are responsible for keeping grass and weeds below 10 inches in height and or other nuisance vegetation that extends into a public way, impairs motorists’ visibility, or crosses a property line.

The ordinance requires property owners to:

Burns Municipal Code 8.10.050 nuisance vegetation.

(1) No owner or person in charge of real property shall allow nuisance vegetation on the property.

(2) The owner or person in charge of real property shall abate noxious vegetation from the property. If weeds, grass, brush, or other forms of nuisance vegetation are allowed to exceed 10 inches in height after June 1, the city may cut the vegetation or have it cut by a private contractor, if the owner or person in charge of the property fails to do so. The owner and the person in charge shall be jointly and severally liable for the cost of abatement as provided in this chapter.

(3) If the owner or person in charge of the property fails to maintain the premises as required by this section, and the city causes the vegetation on the property to be cut, there shall be filed with the city clerk an itemized copy of a statement to be sent to the offender based on charges specified in this section. The city clerk shall send a copy to the person by mail together with a notice that the statement is due and owing for the removal of weeds, grass, brush, or other nuisance vegetation.

(4) The person shall pay the costs of removal within 30 days from the date of removal. If the payment is not made within 30 days from the date of the billing, the city shall collect a late penalty of 10 percent of balance, in addition to other charges.

(5) For purposes of this section, “nuisance vegetation” means:

(a) Any vegetation that is,

(i) A health hazard;

(ii) A fire hazard;

(iii) A traffic hazard because it impairs the view of the public thoroughfare at intersections or otherwise makes use of the thoroughfare hazardous.

(6) No owner or person in charge of property shall allow nuisance vegetation to be on the property or in the right-of-way of a public thoroughfare abutting on the property. An owner or person in charge of property shall cut down or destroy nuisance vegetation as often as needed to prevent it from becoming a health or fire hazard, or, in the case of weeds or other nuisance vegetation, from maturing or from going to seed.

(7) The city clerk may cause to be published, in a newspaper of general circulation in the city, a copy of subsection (4 & 5) of this section as a notice to all owners and persons in charge of property of the duty to keep their property free from nuisance vegetation.

(8) The notice provided for in subsection (7) of this section may be used in lieu of the notice required by BMC 8.10.170. [Ord. 08-794 § 2, 2008]

(9) Violation of this section is a Class D Violation for a first (1) offense, and will be upgraded one level for every offense thereafter within the same calendar year.

These minimum standards are established to provide reasonable measures of controlling fire and health hazards and to protect lives and property. The goal of the Burns Fire Department is to establish a fire-safe community through voluntary compliance of informed property owners and residents.

A working partnership between property owners and their neighbors is the best defense against disastrous fires.