Lakewood Approves Changes to Tall Grass, Weeds Ordinance

If the city of Lakewood mows the lawn of a negligent property owner, the price has just gone up.

unaminously OK’d a with out-of-control vegetation.   

Under the new ordinance, property owners will now have to pay $200 per visit or the actual cost of the visit — whichever is higher. 

“When a property owners is put on notice that they’ve haven’t cut their grass, we give them time to mow their lawn,” Lakewood Law Director Kevin Butler told Lakewood Patch earlier this year. “When they don’t, we have the option to send in a crew to cut the grass, and we can charge the owner.”

Mary Simon, the litter control officer for the city, who oversees overgrown lawns, said that the city mowed 124 lawns in 2011.

Of those, about 95 percent were residential homes. 

Simon said many of those homes are foreclosed, with no one tending the property.

“I go out and take pictures, then researches the home,” she said. “Then the guys have got to go out and mow. And they don’t just mow — they clean it up.”

Dru Siley, the city’s director of planning and development — who also oversees the city’s building and housing department — told Lakewood Patch earlier this month that city spends about $200 per visit on average.

“It’s a big problem for the people who live next door to a house that’s not being maintained,” Siley said. “We want to make sure everybody is being a responsible owner. If not, sometimes we have to step in and take care of it.”