[RP TownTalk] Lawn regulations

[Alan K. Thompson]

Hi Zach,

As with Nina, I apologize for the delay in response.

You asked "what provisions are made within Riverdale Park’s existing and
proposed law which allow residents to pursue an alternate model to growing
turfgrass?"  The quick answer is "no provisions exist" but, as with
everything in the law, there's always a little wiggle room.

Some neighbors of mine (who moved to another town a few years ago)
landscaped their front yard in an unusual way.  On one side of the central
sidewalk they had a traditional maintained lawn, beds, etc., and on the
other side a wildflower bed.  At times the wildflowers looked a bit, well,
wild, but I don't think they were ever cited (but don't know if they had to
have long conversations with code enforcement officers) because the
traditional lawn was always well maintained, and making the call that the
wildflower bed was overgrown weeds was hard, since there was always
*something* blooming.  Another neighbor had a yard with essentially no grass
(trees, shrubs, and mulch) and I also think she wasn't cited when the
occasional invading sprig of grass got over ten inches.  (She did have grass
in the strip between the sidewalk and street, where there are more
restrictions on what you can do). So, there are at least *some*
possibilities for different approaches, even if they aren't directly
addressed in the law.

I don't know how code enforcement would respond to a lawn that was, again,
well-maintained around the edges but with a belgian-block and mulch edged
section of 24 inch high "native grasses," but they might well not cite it as
long as it looked deliberate.  I think that for the most part the code
enforcement officers cite lawns/yards that look neglected and/or trashy, and
are not out there with a ruler seeking out technical violations.

I glanced through Hyattsville's code back in March when discussion of this
was happening at the committee level, and before there was a proposal, but
haven't given it a thorough read.  It sounds like they hashed through a lot
of the same discussions that we're having here, so perhaps it would be good
if everyone who's interested (including me!) could look at it and discuss
the pros and cons of the approaches they've taken.

I hope this answers your question - let me know if you have more!

Thanks,

Alan

On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 12:52 PM, Zach Feris <zferis at gmail.com> wrote:

>  Hi all,
>
>
>
> Nina and Alan – responses are requested below please…lest they get lost in
> the message.
>
>
>
> Nina provides some intelligent and experienced perspective – the typical
> American front yard is “an ecological mess of herbicides, pesticides, and
> monoculture”. Not to mention, a huge waste of time and money. I’m curious
> – perhaps Alan can enlighten us – what provisions are made within Riverdale
> Park’s existing and proposed law which allow residents to pursue an
> alternate model to growing turfgrass? I ask, since this point seems to be
> one of Nina’s main critiques.
>
>
>
> Nina, your arguments are strong, but your response doesn’t do much in the
> way of directly offering up alternate plans for resolving the very societal
> problems that this proposed amendment in code would attempt to rectify. I
> may be missing your point – and in all likelihood I am – but can you please
> clarify your suggestions?
>
>
>
> Very best,
> Zach on Sheridan St
>
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