Our city mayor and city council has decide to pass new regulations on the appearance of our yards. There was standing room only for the first meeting. Though we were not allowed to ask questions at this meeting we are allowed to at the next one. Keep in mind that this is a small farming town without a lot of high paying jobs. I won't go through all of it but the first that I will argue with is the wording 'no grass or plant shall be over 8 inches in height unless a tree or hedge. WHAT! That eliminates almost all flowers!! No individual shrubs if they aren't in a hedge!! No non-operating farm equipment or parts of it can be in your yard! That eliminates every 'junk' item I've posted plus I just acquired a single horse drawn cultivator that is so cool. All camper, boats, 4 wheelers, etc. must be parked on cement or asphalt! Half of the people don't have a paved driveway for their cars, just gravel. And if you don't comply with these regulations, you will be given a 3 week warning to clean it up or $100 fine, second warning is $200 and the 3rd time is $1000 plus jail time! I've taken picture's of everything on my shop wall that I have posted here that, if these rules are passed, I will have to take down all of them plus the large bowl and sphere in my front yard! Heck, even my trellis's are made out of recycled metal! Thanks for letting me vent. I am just so angry.
OMG!! I've never heard of such idiotic regulations. Neither wonder you're hopping mad. Just how are the council going to make people abide by these ridiculous rules? Surely they don't expect everyone to rip up their gardens and pay out to have them the way they expect them to be!! I'd be inclined to draw up a petition and get as many people as you can to sign it and then I'd boycott the mayor and his council by NOT doing what they ask. If enough of you ignore them then surely they'll realise just how stupid they've been and allow you to keep your gardens the way you want to.
2of us...do you have any idea about what prompted the mayor and council to put these regulations in place? How can they do this without a vote of the people? It is outrageous and unamerican. You don't suppose they need a way to increase city revenues by fining people for noncompliance do you? If i were you, i would ask "what prompted you to impose these regulations?" to discover the motivations behind it.
That's what I'm interested in knowing as well. Did the mayor wake up on the wrong side of the bed that morning? At a stretch I could see see how farm equipment in the yard could be a problem it was old, rusty and contained a lot of sharp edges, but other than that all of these regulations sound ridiculous.
Surely that wont pass ... it's totally ridiculous! I think the mayor needs to come spend a day in the life of a farmer and find out where his food comes from.
Be interesting to see who would be coming round with a tape measure to see if your grass is too tall!
Some of the regulations make sense, such as having vehicles parked on hard surfaces. When we lived in town I had dead areas where cars had been parked and leaked oil, transmission fluid, etc. It took several years to restore those areas. Parking on a gravel driveway is one thing, littering the landscape with derelict vehicles is another. Your council needs to make the distinction between the two. Ask the council to come up with valid reasons for "no plant or grass over 8" tall", and why yard art (like your cultivator) would be banned. It sounds as if they had a "workshop" and things got out of hand!
I'm be angry too! That sounds so ridiculous. I'm sure you're not the only resident that is upset by these absurd regulations. And I bet they are willing to fight 'em too. Hope you all can get organized and get this straightened out before it gets out of hand.
With the rise in the number of Home Owner Associations in new housing developments (and some older housing developments going that route too) there has also been a rise in the number of people of think they have the right to foist their personal likes and dislikes on others and it sounds like the mayor and city council have fallen into the 'god trap' as some call it. Our city has a limit on the height of the grass and what type of things you can have in your yard where it can be seen by the general public. I had a really pretty brass headboard out front being used by a honeysuckle plant as a trellis but the city saw it as debris and gave me 10 days to remove it. Their regulations state that anything not normally used outdoors is considered debris and has to be removed. I have two kids wagons and a wheelbarrow being used as planters and I have a feeling they are irritated when they see them, but since those items are normally used outdoors they really can not require me to remove them. We have put privacy screens around the backyard so those items can not be seen by neighbors or anyone driving down the alley so the city leaves me alone on those now. Also, I have two blue 55 gallon barrels out front hooked up to the house gutters for collecting rain water and they can not say anything to me about them because our state legislature made it against the law for cities or HOAs (home owners associations) to interfere with a homeowner collecting rain water. They can require it be camouflaged in some way if they want but they can not require that the barrels be removed.
The city council and mayor (notice I did not capitalize mayor!) have decided that this is an ordinance so it does not need our vote! At the last meeting they said they would modify some of the regulations...they didn't! The people are going to get 3 minutes each to talk but after the last meeting but I doubt anything will be changed. The reason it was brought up is that there are a few homes in town that do not maintain their yards but there were already ordinances in place to take care of that. I'll see what is accomplished tomorrow but right now I'm going to check and see the rules and regulations on petitions to repeal it. I know they are just trying to appease the citizens by even having the meeting tomorrow.
There is a "remedy of last resort" that is recall. With enough citizen support the council and the mayor can be recalled, and more sensible people elected to take their places. It may be difficult and time consuming, but worth the effort.
We have a few yards in a couple of the towns around us where people pile up junk and do not mow, etc. Neighbors have to put up looking at the eye sore because no one does anything about them....some of these have been like this for years. One house has had a ladder up against the side of the home going up to a window that has sat there for years. Not sure why the people couldn't even lay the ladder on its side on the ground....I hope they can distinguish between junk yards and the kept up ones so things work out for you....Good luck
20fus--I like your idea of attending the meeting...be sure you get out your neighbors to attend & complain as well. I also like the idea of a citizen petition, letters written to the editor of your local newspaper, catchy signs on people's lawns protesting the new regulations, etc. There's more than one way to skin a cat (mayor/town council). You could propose a citizen committee to study the problem & propose a better solution....maybe it could be 'death by committee'! Our town in MA is great at that!
Mike stopped at a neighbors house ( a lawyer) today that was edging his yard to offer the use of our mantis edger. A reporter from the largest town near us (60 miles) was there and wanted Mike to step before the camera and talk about the ordinance. Mike said 'no camera' but he did give his thoughts on this. I will bring up at the meeting tonight about the reporter. Plus I'm taking pictures of our 'junk' to show them. I've posted these pictures before but, if passed this is some of the things I'll have to get rid of. Also, neatly stacked firewood or a stump still in the ground is allowed so I guess my gnome or fairy house would have to go also!
