How Early is Too Early to Mow the Lawn?

How early is too early to mow your lawn?

That’s the question some residents are debating after one man said he’s awoken by neighbors who power up their mowers around 7 a.m.

“I think it is fair to have people cut their grass starting somewhere between 10am-12pm,” Scott Simon wrote on Patch. He said he hopes the village will adopt an ordinance to reflect that.

While Buffalo Grove regulates the hours during which businesses near residences can make noise and also enforces the hours during which construction activity can take place, the village does not restrict the hours during which residents can mow their lawns.

Village officials receive complaints from residents about business activity, said Deputy Building Commissioner Brian Sheehan, but complaints about activity such as lawn mowing are less common. 

“We do not get too many residential complaints - maybe 1-2 per summer,” Sheehan wrote in an email to Patch. When village staff members follow up with the neighbors causing the noise, “that is usually sufficient to solve the issue,” he said.

Patch readers responses to Simon’s suggestion varied.

“For those who have to be at work or have other appointments throughout the day between 10-12 start times are not realistic. I see nothing wrong with 8am - before that is a bit early,” commented sara I.

“Seriously? No mowing till noon? This actually brings up a bigger concern for me; a growing trend to expect the world to adapt to us and our special situations, instead of us adapting to the world,” John L responded.

“It will never happen. Invest in some good earplugs,” Patch reader Michael Clayson suggested on the Buffalo Grove Patch Facebook fan page.

What do you think? Should the village restrict the hours during which lawns can be mowed? If so, what should those hours be? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below or join the conversation on Simon’s post here.