[RP TownTalk] Lawn regulations

[Nina Faye]

Please regard these as general comments from someone who is gardener, Horticulture Society member, and member of a Hyattsville Code Enforcement Committe, which dealt with this issue some years ago.  Mowing grass very short encourages weed growth and unhealthy grass.  Since the 1970's there has been a movement to have urban/suburban meadows and wildflower gardens.  There have been numerous articles in the Post about these over the last several years.  They "typical" suburban lawn is an ecological mess of herbicides, pesticides, and monoculture.  Runoff from lawn applications is a major source of Bay pollution.  It took us almost three years to hash out a revised ordinance on lawns and gardens, and it has been revised once since then.  I would suggest that the six inches is unrealistic, not good for lawns, and possibly unenforceable.  What would happen if we had another extremely wet spring and summer, when it was near impossible to get lawns cut
 for the mud?  Are your Code people really going to be out counting seed heads and comparing the number with the homeowner?  Of course we all know that most of the problem lawns in both towns are simply a matter of lazy owners.  It is a serious problem and a pain for Public Works and Code.  I just wanted to raise some of the issues that we struggled with, though I suspect that RP gardeners have been doing so already.  Good luck with your efforts, Nina  

--- On Sun, 5/2/10, Alan K. Thompson <akthompson at riverdaleparkmd.gov> wrote:


From: Alan K. Thompson <akthompson at riverdaleparkmd.gov>
Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] Lawn regulations
To: "TownTalk" <TownTalk at riverdale-park.org>
Date: Sunday, May 2, 2010, 9:01 PM


Well, it took me longer than I had hoped to finish the write-up, but here it is.

It's a PowerPoint (tm) style briefing on the proposed lawn height legislation.  To summarize the current code and enforcement procedure: 

* Code enforcement notices grass in excess of ten inches
* Code enforcement contacts the owner / resident (usually by certified mail, 2-3 days to have confirmed receipt)
* Owner/resident has seven days after receipt of notice to fix situation
* After seven day waiting period, if situation not fixed, Town can (1) write a $100 ticket and (2) cut grass/weeds to bring into compliance.

On to the proposed legislation:

Motivation: Having a safe, clean, and beautiful town.  

* Example 1: some residents are in continual violation -- their grass gets to ten inches, they receive notice of violation, they mow six days after receipt, and they never pay any penalty even though their lawns are in violation for half (or more) of the summer.

* Example 2: By the time Public Works can go onto a property to cut the grass, it is usually too tall to cut with the mechanical mowers, and must be first cut by hand.  Often there is trash (bottles, cans, etc.) in the tall grass, and staff has been concerned at times that animals may have started nesting in it, exposing them to hazards.  Besides hazards to staff, these "regularly mowed by Public Works" properties have the same problem as the properties in Example 1: they look overgrown most of the time.

Changes in the code:

* Old: Grass/weed height less than ten inches
* New: Grass/weed height less than six inches, excluding seed heads, unless there are fifty (50) or more seed heads over six inches (the "six" may be amended to "eight")

* Old: Enforcement (ticket/town staff clean up) seven days after receipt of notice of violation if not fixed by owner
* New: First offense: same as old
        Repeat offenses: immediate ticket, town staff clean up still seven days after notification of violation

Other solutions considered:

* Allowing cleanup to start immediately, or at least much faster, on repeat violations.  This idea was rejected by the Town Attorney, who told us it would not stand up in court.  The only way to have town staff to start cleanup when the grass is  shorter is to start the clock when the grass is shorter.

* Requiring a minimum amount of overgrown lawn ("at least 10% of the area of the property must have grass over the limit.." or "the grass must generally be over the height specified").  We have not come up with a reasonable and enforceable way to do this.

We on the council welcome any and all input from residents, though, given that the meeting to vote on this is tomorrow (Monday) night, attending the meeting is probably the best way to have your opinion heard.

Thanks,

Alan Thompson
Ward 2 Town Council Representative


On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 6:48 AM, Alan K. Thompson <akthompson at riverdaleparkmd.gov> wrote:

I wrote up a too-long note last night discussing the legislation as proposed, which I hope to clean up and post tonight.  For people who want to read what is currently being discussed by the council, I've put a scanned image of it as introduced (including my scribbled notes) on my web site at 

http://thompsonward2.org/TallGrassLeg.pdf

-----Inline Attachment Follows-----


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