I don't post much here, but lurk a bit and found this. The woman in these story is being charged with a misdemeanor for growing a vegetable garden in her front yard..
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/julie-bass-of-oak-park-faces-misdemeanor-charge-for-vegetable-garden-20110630-wpms
http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/oakland_county/oak-park-battles-city-over-vegetable-garden-in-their-front-yard
Personally, I think the city guy is a jerk.
Hetep
I found this on a Non-Garden site.. What do you think?
Someone should point out to the city that Mrs. Obama tore up the White House front lawn and put in a vegetable garden, so if it's good enough for the nation's capital it should be good enough for ANY American garden.
Perhaps it's time for other neighbors to put in vegetable gardens, too - then the idea would become "common"
Sheesh!
I know nothing about the city of Oak Park. But draconian rules like this are common with Home Owners Associations, Covenant communities etc. If this is an ordinary city, rules can be amended or changed by vote. Majority rule. Covenants are much more difficult to break. Communities that are "protected " by covenant or governed by Homeowners Associations are becoming more and more prevalent in our society. The mantra is to "protect property values" or to maintain a certain aura. When one chooses to live in one of these communities, they have to have every change to the property approved even to the type and color of roof. If the community has a historical motif, every repair has to meet exacting standards for the historical period.
So sad!
I can understand the concern for maintaining property values, but the endless need for conformity is beyond me.
My own HOA requires everyone to have the exact same front yard light, grass type, etc. And it has to be grass. No xeriscape, no hardscape, no vegetable gardens. Now, they have voted to make it possible to sue and collect attorneys fees from the non-conformers. Like that will make our neighborhood a nicer place to live.
My builder did not put in the yard lamp and I didn't know about the requirement so I put the landscaping in without thinking about a lamp. When I found out, I got a bid, but now it's going to be over a thousand dollars to do the trenching for the electrical wiring. I contacted the HOA and asked for permission to put in a solar lamp, which would not require trenching. I presented several different lamps to pick from, all top of the line. I was turned down because, although the solar lamps I presented were nicer and more expensive than the required one, they all have to be the same in order to "maintain the fabric of the neighborhood." It's very weird.
I love driving through neighborhoods that have personality.
I'm so glad I live in the country. We have many "planned" developements in our area (near Southbend, IN) they are all carbon copies, how boring. I feel that your home is a picture of you, what you are, and how you feel about yourself. My gardens surround my house on 7 acres. I defy anyone to tell me I can not grow anything anywhere I choose.
Even some "weeds" are pretty.........
I'm with you Annabelle! I could never live in a city where your neighbors are so close you could hear them fart. Where your grass has to be picture perfect and heavens forbid if there's a dandelion. The country represents freedom to me...free to be me without being watched and judged by your neighbors or dictated to by city rules and regulations.
There are planned communities that are pretty restrictive but you know that when you buy your home. I remember years ago that my parents found a home that my Mom just loved and they didn't buy it because of list of what you could and couldn't do with your yard area. The break point for my Mom was no outside clothes line. Doesn't sound like this is that type of area. More like my other friend a Professional Landscaper specializing in Native Plants. He lives in a small town and was told to cut his weeds. They were talking about the butterfly garden in his side yard. It is obviously a garden with paths, yard art, benches and native plants. Just not your standard grass and bushes. He eventually worked out a design that suited both him and the codes enforcer but they went back and forth for quite a long time before coming to a comprise.
It will be interesting to see how this turns out.
We moved to the Houston suburbs in 1999 and this is the first neighborhood I've lived in with an HOA, or the NNA (Neighborhood Nazi Assoc.) as I call it. Well, there are positives and negatives to everywhere you live. And like someone above said, you know (or should know) what you are agreeing to before you move in to a place. Some people don't have much of a country option if they work in a big city. Or like where we came from in the New Orleans area. There just isn't much land to be had there anymore, unless you like it swampy! But I especially object to HOAs not allowing nice, environmentally choices to be put in action or a nice veggie garden in the front beds, if it's taken care of or choosing a nice white picket fence in the front yard, etc. All those choices can still look nice and the HOA can still disallow the "transcamaros" up on blocks in the driveway or front yard!!
One of the HOA in our area got some bad press a few years ago. A couple was given a couple of those pink plastic flamingos as a gag gift. They put them out in their front yard and were planing on just having them there a few weeks and then getting rid of them. But the HOA sent them a note that they had to have them removed within 30 days. So they kept them for the allotted 30 days and then the Flamingos migrated to one of the neighbors yards where they stayed till that neighbor received a 30 day notice. Then they migrated again to another neighbor and the whole process started again. Next thing you know more flamingos starting showing up and the flock got bigger and bigger. Someone must have thought it would be a funny story and it ended up in the local papers.
HollyAnn!! That's hilarious! It just puts a smile on my face to know that there was a fun way to protest.