Township to whack owners of weedy yards

Muskegon Chronicle ^ | Tuesday, May 20, 2003 | Nancy Stier

[FourPeas]

Township to whack owners of weedy yards

Tuesday, May 20, 2003

By Nancy Stier
CHRONICLE CORRESPONDENT

If you live in an urban area of Muskegon Township, it appears you will soon be required to keep your lawn cut and your grounds free of "noxious weeds."

After discussing the issue for more than a year, the township board gave preliminary approval Monday for a new ordinance that requires Muskegon Township residents to keep their grounds tidy if they live in urban areas. Anyone who doesn't will risk being billed for the expense of having a township contractor do it. Bills that aren't paid will be added to offenders' property taxes.

"We desperately need this," Township Supervisor Don Aley said of the ordinance, before board members unanimously approved its first reading Monday. Final board action is expected June 2.

He explained later that people living in the community's neighborhoods get very upset when someone on their block fails to cut their lawn or lets weeds get out of control. Some assert that lack of maintenance devalues nearby property because potential home buyers don't want to live near someone that doesn't maintain their grounds, Aley said.

"You shouldn't have a right to devalue your neighbors' property," Aley said. "I'm not overjoyed that we have to do this, but it's necessary in an urban community."

If passed June 2, the ordinance will apply only to lots less than one acre in size, all parcels in site condominium projects and all commercial property. Land for which building permits have never been issued is also exempt.

The new rules would ban letting lawns grow more than 10 inches high. Dead bushes, trees and leaves accumulating for more than one season will be prohibited. Also banned are tree stumps and bushes and trees infested with dangerous insects or infectious disease.

Once the ordinance passes, anyone violating it can be issued a notice asking for compliance within 10 days. If the property owner fails to act, a township contractor may enter the property, remove "noxious weeds" and cut the grass.

The expense incurred by the township will be billed to the owner. If it remains unpaid, the township will place a lien on the property for the amount and eventually add it to the parcel's annual property taxes.

Aley said Norton Shores has a similar ordinance, and "it works."

[FourPeas]

"Noxious"?

noxious

adj
1: injurious to physical or mental health; "noxious chemical wastes"; "noxious ideas" [syn: harmful] [ant: innocuous]
2: having adverse effect on living things; "noxious chemical wastes" [syn: deleterious, hurtful, injurious]

They must have some really nasty weeds in Muskegon.

[supercat]

They must have some really nasty weeds in Muskegon.

Noxious weeds are those that choke out other plants.

[FourPeas]

It was, er, a joke. You know, humor?

[SamAdams76]

What about cars up on cinder blocks? Are they not allowed either?

[Cicero]

How about pink plastic flamingoes?

[MIgramma]

That's not too far from here.
Lots of folks around here take umbrage to my "native" prairie, too.
I've got native grasses and prairie-type wild stuff and some love it but there are those who don't appreciate my "going native" and probably consider my free-form flowers noxious weeds also.
Tough!

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Noxious weeds are those that choke out other plants

And noxious people are those on the zoning board passing this law whats next “eminent domain” over not cutting grass

This is just another way to choke the liberty from you by incriminating your right to let your yard grow naturally .

Look at this: When is your property not yours?

[FourPeas]

I LIKE Dandelions.

So do I. Each year, I am over ruled.

[spectre]

"The new rules would ban letting lawns grow more than 10 inches high."

10 inches high is not a lawn.

Its a weat field.

[glory]

No doubt the neighbors will not be kindly enough to knock on the door and see if the owner needs some assistance. After the birth of our first child, hubby and I were sleep deprived, both working, and unfortunately, we did start to have some weeds and someone did report us--not once did anyone(and we talked to most of our neighbors) come by and ask if we needed some help either to call someone to help with the yard or to help themselves. I was very disillusioned after that and we kept more to ourselves more.

Who wants to bet too the city will probably charge them a couple hundred bucks to mow a 1/4 acre lawn when a friendly neighbor could step in and offer to do it for 10 bucks(a neighbor teenager--we are in a different neighborhood now--mows the lawn for 15 bucks and these are nice size yards--he will almost always knock if things are growing up just to see and I'm sure many appreciate that when things are so hectic they can't get to it)

[socal_parrot]

When I was a kid, there was a house down the block that had a front yard that consisted of a rock garden and cement. In the middle of the yard, rising slightly above everything around it, was a push lawnmower, painted gold.

[glory]

I meant to add in my neighbor story that ALL of these neighbors knew that we were new parents and very tired and adjusting so they even knew the situation, but instead chose to call the city instead of knocking on the door and either offering to babysit so hubby and I could do it or to call someone for us/offer us numbers of lawn services or offer to do it this once themselves. We really would have appreciated it.

[HAL9000]

I got a new WeedEater the other day, if you need to borrow it...

[Flora McDonald]

Ahhh the memories come flooding back! I remember a house from my childhood on a busy street. The tiny front yard was paved in cement and painted green! The neighbors struggled to maintain their patches of grass under the dense shade of huge pin oaks and magnolias.

I have always been attracted to eccentrics. As I grow older they seem to be the ones I remember with the greatest clarity and often the most affection.

[gracie1]

There was a yard in my dad's neiborhood that had a yard of only junipers. The joke was they were too lazy to mow.

[Registered]

smart aleck. Muskegon sucks (tm)

[CobaltBlue]

Isn't the real definition of "weed" something that flourishes more than the rest of the surrounding vegitation?

It seems counter-productive to try to mess with success.

[Fred Mertz]

10 inches high is not a lawn.

It is where I live. We've had so much rain that it's nearly impossible to keep up with that hayfield.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

10 inches high is not a lawn.

Don't you need a harvester or combine to mow one of those suckers? I don't thing my Sears 5 HP rear bagger could do it.