We got a ticket yesterday. A freaking ticket, because apparently there is a Baltimore County law that says your grass "and weeds" can't be higher than three inches tall. And we all know how good Don and I are about keeping up with the yard. So there's evidently a law which says we can't let our house look as hovel-ish as we want. Who knew?
Anyway, if we don't get the lawn mowed and the weeds trimmed (!) by the 13th, they're going to start charging us $200 a day.
Which is a lot of money.
I'm really hoping they only mean the front, because there's no way we're going to be able to deal with the jungle in the back by the thirteenth. We weren't planning on touching it this year at all, since we're focusing on the inside. It's got to just be the front, right? Don said he saw somebody sitting in a car in front of the house yesterday before I got home (which is when I found the ticket on the door). So if they're just driving by the front of the house they can't see the horror that is the backyard, right? I mean, is some Baltimore County suit guy really coming onto our property and clambering around on the pool deck to measure our weeds?
Ugh.
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5 comments:
What agency gave you the ticket? I know for a fact that the law is 12 inches, at which point someone must complain, and then the county gives you 7 days to cut it or they charge you to have a private contractor cut it. I know this because this happened to my dad's next-door neighbors while they went on vacation for three months one summer and the only person in the house didn't bother to cut the grass.
I can't imagine it would include the backyard, that would be truly ridiculous.
I have heard of similar laws before though - I had a friend who was cited for it.
We finally caved and bought a riding mower yesterday since there didn't seem to be anyway we would have time to mow the almost acre hill of a yard we have with a push mower.
I bet a neighbor did complain. Nasty people. And if someone goes into your backyard, they'll get poison ivy and it will serve them right.
But maybe you should just break down and have someone deal with the jungle, get rid of the poison ivy, etc. Then you can go outside. You wouldn't have to landscape, just clear. Just make sure they garantee the poison ivy is gone.
Have you looked here for general info:
http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/permits/pdmfaq/pdmfaq_cdenfo.html
You can go to the hearing, and they will probably reduce the fine.
I deal with this type of stuff in the City, mostly, but let me know if you need any help. I am a paralegal.
Damn, that's worse than my HOA and all the nonsense that they enforce. I'd agree that it's probably someone that complained; nearly all of the hassles I've had living in my place have stemmed from neighbor's complaints.
Neighborhoods aren't what they used to be.
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