Hi Zach,<br><br>As with Nina, I apologize for the delay in response.<br><br>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.<br>
<br>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.<br>
<br>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.<br>
<br>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.<br>
<br>I hope this answers your question - let me know if you have more!<br><br>Thanks,<br><br>Alan<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 12:52 PM, Zach Feris <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:zferis@gmail.com">zferis@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Hi all,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Nina and Alan – responses are requested below please…lest
they get lost in the message.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Nina provides some intelligent and experienced perspective –
the typical American front yard is “</span>an ecological mess of
herbicides, pesticides, and monoculture<span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">”. 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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Very best,<br>
Zach on Sheridan St</span></p>
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