Prior to 2022, the City’s weed abatement program was operated by both the Parks & Recreation and Public Works departments. This year, maintenance of weeds in concrete and asphalt areas, including medians and right-of-way where foliage should not grow, will be managed by Public Works. Parks & Recreation will continue to focus on organic areas with plant material including most roundabouts and medians.
Recent weed abatement efforts have focused on two types of treatments:
Pre-Emergent Weed Treatment: Parks & Recreation's Plant Health Care Team, working with Public Works, has completed a new pre-emergent spring application program to control weed seed germination. Focusing on street rights-of-way, the program has treated over 2.8 million square feet of landscape areas. This early spring application will help to better control summer weeds and limit their ability to develop through the coming season. The program is planning to complete this effort again in the fall to help better control the winter annual weeds.
Post-Emergent Weed Treatment: Over the last month, Public Works has sprayed all of the major street corridors, as well as other City-owned properties such as Matchett Park, water plant pump houses, guardrail areas, bridges, and interchanges. The commercial-grade chemicals still take 14-20 days to show an impact if temperatures are at 60 degrees or higher. Colder temperatures in March have delayed the effects of the spraying.
Additional seasonal staffing that is being added to the program in the next few weeks will not only add spraying capacity but will also work on removing the “skeletons” that remain from previous spraying efforts. These treatments along the corridors and efforts by the Public Works department will improve aesthetics throughout the city.
Private Property Owner Information
The City of Grand Junction weed abatement program is underway. The program enforces maintenance of weeds in public rights-of-way between the property line and the street or curb. Enforcement keeps seasonal weed growth manageable.
Property owners are responsible for the removal of weeds on their property as well as adjacent rights-of-way and alleyways. Property owners may receive a violation notice if weeds are over 6-inches in height or if goat heads (puncture vines) are any height. For vacant, undisturbed, and agricultural land over one acre, owners are required to remove weeds within 20-feet of an adjacent parcel and 40-feet back from adjacent roadways.
If Code Enforcement identifies a violation, a Notice of Violation will be issued for voluntary compliance with no fine. If the weeds are not cut and removed and/or rubbish remains, an Administrative Citation will be issued and a fine will be assessed. If the violation is not corrected, the weeds and/or rubbish will be abated at the property owner’s expense.
Property owners are encouraged to act promptly to help reduce the cost of cutting and spraying. For more information on the weed abatement program visit the City's Weeds webpage or contact Weed Abatement at 970-244-1583.
For more information, please contact the Public Works Director, Trent Prall, at trentonp@gjcity.org.
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Contact: Isabella Vaz, Communications Specialist | 970-244-1503 or isabellav@gjcity.org