[Massplanners] Mowing requirements, unsightly property

[Daniel Fortier]

City of Madison Wisconsin adopted a waiver of enforcement for No Mow May.

There are a number of states (Texas and Idaho for instance) that have laws
specifically promoting Xerescaping, you might want to reach out to some
landscape entities. Be forewarned, I was accused of being anti-lawn when
recommending such a by-law in an environmentally sensitive part of Dennis.
Ultimately restricted lawn to no more than 5,000 sf.

Daniel Fortier, AICP Retired Planner

On Tue, Jul 2, 2024, 12:03 PM Corrin Meise-Munns via MassPlanners <
massplanners at masscptc.org> wrote:

> 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
> --
> MassPlanners mailing list
> MassPlanners at masscptc.org
> http://masscptc.org/mailman/listinfo/massplanners_masscptc.org
>
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