City Council Rejects Outright Ban on Bamboo

On one side were residents who support a ban of a plant that has invaded and damaged their properties; on the other side stood those who call the ban another example of government encroachment on our liberties. At issue was bamboo.

The City of Long Beach proposed to outlaw the nonnative perennial evergreen last Tuesday but the City Council, by a 3-2 vote, turned down the ordinance as written. It prohibited the planting, growth and maintenance of all bamboo, and would fine offenders up to $250 per day ten days after the city served them with notices to correct the violation. The council also voted to return to the ordinance if it were rewritten.

During last week’s public hearing, Scott Kemins, commissioner of the building department, suggested the ban, calling bamboo an “extremely invasive” plant that in recent years has become a larger problem in Long Beach, as more residents use tall-growing bamboo in order to circumvent fencing codes related to height. Later, when questioned on the number of bamboo-related complaints that residents have filed, Kemins reported 12 through the past two years, one of which is in court.   

West Olive Street resident Catherine Northrop carried bamboo stalks with her to the podium when she told the council that the plant has no place in Long Beach. “It grows freely in my [flower] beds, my lawn, my bushes and my hedges,” she said. “It grows at an alarming rate; up to a foot a day during growing season.” 

Len Tannenbaum, Northrop’s neighbor, echoed others when he said that he has spent thousands of dollars correcting damage in his yard from a neighbor’s bamboo, including building a barrier wall, and urged the council to pass the ordinance. “The only solution is to ban it,” he said.

But Stephen Schner, a neighbor of Northrop and Tannebaum, was among those who opposed the ban. He said he keeps the plant contained in his yard, using four-foot steel barriers around his property. Schner planted bamboo after his neighbors complained about his six-foot-tall fencing. “I planted it for privacy and I’ve taken care of it,” said Schner, who noted that he was taken to court.  

Meanwhile, as a number of municipalities across Long Island have already outlawed or placed restrictions on bamboo, including the Town of Hempstead, others see the ban as another example of government overstepping its proper bounds.

Frank McQuade, a Magnolia Boulevard resident, called the ban “more governmental overreach” on property rights, and said he would like to see Long Beach buck the trend of local governments “running roughshod” over private property owners. His wife, Mercy, implored the council to research the issue before passing another law.

“Every time there is a problem there has to be a law for every single thing,” she said. “ … There’s too many laws already and … I feel like it’s a tool to control us.”

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Hicksville resident Steve Greenspan, a self-proclaimed trained horticulturalist who owns a bamboo and poison ivy removal company, said that bamboo has more than 500 species, not all of which are invasive. He called an outright ban senseless. “To ban all bamboo unilaterally across the board is like saying you can’t have a dog because your dog barks,” he said.

Instead, the city should propose legislation in which a homeowner who plants bamboo post a $500 to $1,000 bond, Greenspan explained, so that if the plant escapes and wrecks neighboring properties those damages are tied to the grower’s taxes and sale of property.

Council members Scott Mandel, Michael Fagen and Len Torres, who all voted against the ordinance, were amenable to Greenspan’s suggestion and were willing to return to the issue if the ordinance was reworded so that it doesn’t penalize residents who grow bamboo responsibly.

“You have a dangerous plant that can be managed,” said Fagen, who expressed concern about the building department receiving extended powers through the proposed ordinance. “You have bad neighbors who don’t manage the dangerous plants, and I think that they need to be required to indemnify their neighbors against their intrusions. But I also believe that people who are responsible and do grow their plants the way they should be grown should not be penalized....”

Torres made a motion to have the ordinance returned with different language. “I’m asking that this legislation be brought back with the wording that protects those people who have been compliant with respect to their neighbors,” he said. 

All five council members voted in favor of the motion.