[Massplanners] Mowing requirements, unsightly property

[Corrin Meise-Munns]

Hello,

My Code Enforcement team wants to beef up our regulations around height of
grass/mowing requirements, and "unsightly property."

Regarding height of grass, we have more and more residents wanting to
participate in No Mow May, and/or who are raising environmental concerns
around maintenance of lawns overall. The problem for Code Enforcement is
that they are getting complaints from residents who want to maintain the
orderly suburban aesthetic of a mown lawn (as required by our bylaws, which
demand a maximum height of 6" for lawn grass). Do any of your communities
have provisions to allow for No Mow May?

In Longmeadow, the grass requirement is a General Bylaw so I am considering
bringing this to the Select Board to ask them to adopt a policy repreiving
the Code Enforcement team from enforcing this bylaw in May. However, this
begs the question -- what happens when someone (rightly, in my opinion)
argues that taller vegetation and flowering/seeding grasses provide forage
and fodder year-round, not just in May? So my second question here is: do
any of your communities have provisions to allow for ecological landscaping
in residential properties, not limited by month or season?

The Code Enforcement staff are also having a hard time enforcing another
zoning provision prohibiting "unsightly property," which itself is a
nebulous term and open to interpretation and difference of opinion. Our
bylaw prohibits "the keeping of unused (for over 30 days) or unsightly
personal property," but does not does not define what
constitutes unsightly. This is essentially our version of a blighted
property bylaw, but it doesn't touch on the condition of any building or
unpaid taxes. Do any of your communities have a bylaw defining and
regulating something along the lines of "unsightly property" that you think
works well? To frame the conversation, Town Meeting would not likely repeal
such a bylaw altogether.

Many thanks,
Corrin


-- 
*Corrin Meise-Munns* *(she/her)*
Assistant Town Manager / Director of Planning & Community Development
Town of Longmeadow, MA
(413) 565-4110
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://masscptc.org/pipermail/massplanners_masscptc.org/attachments/20240702/63290a7c/attachment.htm>