Port Common Council Clips Lawn Law

Emails and phone calls flooded Port Washington City Hall as residents voiced their opposition to an ordinance they felt would make it a violation to grow plants in parkways.

However, it turns out planting in parkways has been a violation of city ordinance all along.

"(We) never really enforced it, never got any complaints from anybody that was planting any flowers," City Administrator Mark Grams said during a Common Council meeting.

The new ordinance — inspired by a separate matter and passed in July by the Common Council — now permits residents to grow plants instead of grass.

Port Washington Mayor Scott Huebner decided to begin reworking the lawn maintanence ordinance after a complaint from a resident about the city's handling of lawn maintenance issues.

The main focus, at that point, was to shorten the length that grass lawns are allowed to grow and also to shorten the amount of time a resident had to cut their lawn after being given a notice of complaint.

City Attorney Eric Eberhardt was assigned to the task. In doing his research to rewrite the ordinance, he wasn't looking to voice his opinion about how yards should be maintained, he said, but rather to develop ideas and react to comments on those changes.

"When the mayor asked me to look at the issue I took that seriously ... and I drafted a draft," Eberhardt said. "It was just that — a draft, not the law."

Residents weren't so convinced when they first heard about the effort, calling city officials and urging them to allow planting in parkways to continue.

Port Resident Mary Enright showed up to one Common Council meeting in support of people who plant in the parkways, saying that often it is hard to grow grass in these areas and unsightly dandelions take over.

"I'm here to support the people that have plants in that area … (and) typically care for those plants nicely," Enright said.

As it turns out, the new ordinance makes one significant word change. Instead of saying residents "shall" grow grass in parkways, it says they "should." In legal terms, Eberhardt said, "shall" means mandatory; "should" implies a duty — closer to a suggestion.

Therefore, while it is suggested residents grow grass in parkways, those who are growing plants in these areas are allowed to do so pending no complaints by other residents and no apparent hazards to people using nearby roadways and sidewalks arise.

In the end, the original six-page ordinance that Eberhardt drafted was been cut to two, with the focus restored to the length of grass and amount of time to respond.

The Common Council approved the ordinance, which allows grass to only grow to 8 inches and requires maintanence work to be completed within nine days of receiving a notice. The old ordinance allowed 12-inch grass and 12 days to cut the grass after notice.