City gets stricter with ordinance on height of nuisance grass and weeds

Cleaning up the city and dealing with nuisance properties is a focus point for Scott Furgeson’s second tenure as Mayor of Shelbyville.

On Monday at the Shelbyville Common Council meeting at City Hall, an ordinance was approved to limit the heights of weeds and grass to eight inches. The previous ordinance set the height at 10 inches.

The city has dealt with several residences with overgrown lawns and it takes a toll on equipment and manpower, stated Furgeson, who cited 107 properties were taken care of by the city in 2024.

The ordinance states “weeds” as any plant at least eight inches in height except trees, shrubberies, flowers, ornamental grasses, and agricultural crops, including hay and pasture.

Other rank vegetation also considered weeds are:

• Canada thistle
• Johnson grass and Sorghum album
• Bur cucumber
• Shattercane
• Poison ivy
• Poison sumac
• Poison oak
• Quackgrass
• Carolina horsenettle
• Cocklebur
• Wild Mustard

In other council business, a tax abatement was approved for Plastic Moldings Company, LLC, located at 1451 S. Miller Avenue in Shelbyville.

The 10-year tax abatement is on $276,425 of new equipment being purchased and installed by the end of July.

The new work associated with the purchase is expected to add three new employees.

The Shelby County Post is a digital newspaper producing news, sports, obituaries and more without a pay wall or subscription needed.