If your lawn looks more like a jungle than a putting green, be ready to fork over some cash to the city.
Aurora, Ill., is enforcing its ordinance prohibiting property owners from allowing grass or weeds to grow taller than 8 inches. For those who don't comply, the city will send in cutting crews to hack down the vegetation, especially on vacant or abandoned properties.
Aurora uses a combination of fines and property liens to get its point across. The first offense brings a $50 fine, and the penalties go up to $500 after four transgressions.
Ken Griffin, president of the Southwest Neighbors Association and a Kane County Board member, said many neighborhood groups met with the city in the late 1990s, frustrated with trash-strewn empty lots and abandoned properties. The groups compiled a Neighborhood Team Report to suggest changes.
Griffin said it would sometimes take six to eight weeks to get a cutting crew in, because attempts to notify owners of their abandoned properties-turned-eyesores was difficult. Now, the city works on a three-week cutting cycle.
"I fully supported (the ordinance)," Griffin said. "I find that the properties that are not being maintained, once they come in and clean them, it makes the neighborhood a better place."
Griffin specifically cited a former landscaping business at Lake Street and Jericho Road, one of "the gateways to the city," which had been abandoned and was in disrepair. It was sold, and the new owners cleaned up the junked cars and weeds.
The city has 65,000 properties to monitor for compliance, and Director of Property Standards Mark Anderson said the vast majority of parcel owners have no trouble keeping their lawns nice.
However, Aurora opened 2,076 cases involving people who fell out of compliance with the weed law in 2002, Anderson said. The city ended up issuing 913 orders to cut lawns and remove garbage.
So far this year, 533 cases have been brought by the city. Over the last four years, between 1,500 and 2,000 cases have been pursued.
"The real goal of the program is to have people maintain the standards without intervention from the city," Anderson said. "When you do have a property that becomes grown up with grass or weeds ... it is of concern to many people throughout the city, not just to adjacent neighbors but also people who drive by."
Aurora Township Supervisor Jim Murphy said the cutting rule in the township is more informal than the city's. Murphy said the township can give a seven-day notice to property owners urging them to clear the property, but the township does not use fines as much for enforcement.
"If the homeowner doesn't do it, we'll come in and cut it down and put a weed lien on the property," Murphy said. "The board can also order the weeds to be cut without notice if they are really bad."
The township has more of a problem with junk and trash than weed enforcement, Murphy said.
Aurora has had an ordinance regulating property standards for the last 35 years, but was often confounded on what to do about land parcels which were abandoned and neglected, Griffin said. Neighborhood groups also felt helpless, resigned to falling property values and a daily nuisance in their midst.
There are also efforts to help senior citizens in need of lawn care service in Aurora. Aurora Township has a list of 275 homes it visits to cut the grass, while another 106 families are on a similar roster maintained by Citizens for Neighborhood Improvement.
Griffin said there are so many benefits to taking care of one's property, it's hard to understand why some people don't.
"It just makes for a pleasant neighborhood to go in," he said. "If you keep up your property, neighboring properties want to keep maintenance high. It just makes sense."
This article, which appeared in The Beacon News, was written by Brian Shields.