Prosper's property maintenance code limits grass, weeds and brush to 12 inches on any lot, including the strip between a property line and the curb. Agricultural land gets an exception: owners only have to keep growth that short within 10 feet of an adjoining street, highway or public sidewalk.
An ordinance on the Town Council's consent agenda for Tuesday, Oct. 27, would change which properties count as agricultural.
The new definition
Today the code treats land as agricultural if the county appraisal district has granted it an agricultural property tax exemption, cultivated or not. The proposed wording drops the tax test. Agricultural property would instead mean land currently used in an "agricultural operation" as defined in Section 251.002(1) of the Texas Agriculture Code, "regardless of tax exempt status."
The ordinance says the change follows legislation the Legislature passed in 2023 that limits how cities can regulate agricultural operations. The rewritten mowing section also adds that the 10-foot rule for agricultural land applies in line with Section 251.0055 of the Agriculture Code.
The redline version in the council packet shows one more wording change in that section. The current text extends the 10-foot allowance to "uncultivated or agricultural properties"; the proposed text refers only to agricultural property.
The same sentence also fixes a drafting error: the current text tells owners of such land to keep vegetation at a height "not less than" 12 inches near the road, and the new text says "not greater than."
