We've all seen them in neighborhoods: vacant lots or yards with grass and weeds tall enough to hide a pack of chihuahuas. The City of Lincoln has a long-standing ordinance that says if the unsightly veg
ALGIS J. LAUKAITIS / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Thursday, May 8, 2008 7:00 pm
We’ve all seen them in neighborhoods: vacant lots or yards with grass and weeds tall enough to hide a pack of chihuahuas.
The City of Lincoln has a long-standing ordinance that says if the unsightly vegetation is more than 6 inches high, you must mow or else the city will do it and send you a bill.
Homeowners, who have spent hours keeping their lawns nicely trimmed, are usually the first ones to turn slackers in to the Lancaster County Weed Control Authority. The city has an agreement with the county to administer its weed abatement program.
But those same homeowners might have to cool their heels, if a proposed change in the ordinance — which would increase the weed height from 6 inches to 12 inches — gets passed by the City Council. A public hearing is set for 5:30 p.m. Monday.
Weed superintendent Russ Shultz said the current ordinance was never intended to regulate the height of lawns. Rather, he said, it was passed under the health section of the city code as a way to control vegetation that could harbor mice, rats and other vermin.
“The 6-inch thing is really not very feasible or practical,” Shultz said.
Over the past several years, the weed authority has averaged 1,600 complaints a year about overgrown vegetation, Shultz said. The upshot is that 350 of those complaints were not violations but had to be investigated anyway, he said, resulting in wasted man-hours that could be used elsewhere.
“We end up making a lot of inspections this time of year that don’t result in violations,” Shultz said.
He estimates that the weed authority, which has a chief inspector and three seasonal inspectors, writes up 60 violations per year pertaining to vegetation less than 12 inches in height.
“Neighbors who are concerned about people letting their lawns grown high … the weed abatement ordinance doesn’t really get at that issue,” Shultz said.
Curtis Wood, president of the Witherbee Neighborhood Association, said the proposed ordinance would send the wrong message. He said the association will have people at the hearing to oppose the change.
“We discussed it as a board and we don’t feel that’s the way to go. The reality is if you let it go to 12 it will be 18 (inches) before they actually get to cutting it,” he said. “Things can hide in 12-inch grass that can’t hide in 6-inch grass.”
Michael Snodgrass, executive director of NeighborWorks Lincoln, said his organization is against the proposed weed ordinance and believes it is a step backward at a time when neighborhoods can least afford it.
NeighborWorks is a nonprofit, community-based housing organization dedicated to community revitalization through an active partnership of resident leaders, private businesses and public officials.
“The heart of Lincoln neighborhoods are under tremendous stress with high rental vacancy rates, low home ownership, code enforcement issues, foreclosures, and many other factors,” Snodgrass wrote in an e-mail. “If you were looking to buy or rent, would you want to do so next to an overgrown lot, or in an area where this is tolerated?”
If the proposed change is adopted, Lincoln would be in step with other regional communities, Shultz said. Omaha, for example, has an 18-inch height requirement and Topeka, Kan., and Des Moines, Iowa, both have 12-inch requirements.
“There’s no other community that has a 6-inch ordinance,” Shultz said. “It’s not very practical . … It creates an additional workload for us and doesn’t accomplish much.”
Nancy Clark, an environmental health supervisor with the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department, said the agency does not have a problem with the proposed change.
“It may allow a little more insect harborage if you increase it, but we’re not aware of any evidence that 12 inches would be a significant problem of any kind,” she said.
The weed authority has a $266,000 annual budget, split between the city and the county. Shultz said he is able to hire three seasonal workers, typically college students, to conduct inspections during the summer.
He said the three seasonal workers average about 5,000 inspections, which amounts to 80 inspections per day or one inspection every 15 minutes including office and field time.
Shultz said he understands that some homeowners may get perturbed because the proposed ordinance could result in more unsightly lawns.
“I’m not going to argue the issue,” he said. “I’m trying to be the most efficient and effective I can with the staff I got.”
Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at (402) 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.