(WGTD)---Gardeners in Kenosha with a creative flair who plant things in parkways—that skinny strip of land between the street and sidewalk—can breathe easier.
The practice is now legal, after the City Council voted 12-2 Monday night to adopt an ordinance that clarifies existing language that appeared to make it illegal.
The issue arose after a neighborhood spat led to a woman blowing the whistle on dozens of property owners who had things other than grass growing in their parkways, or what some call lawn parks.
Alderman Jan Michalski went to work to draft an ordinance to make parkway plantings legal. "Basically for the most part these things enhance the property in which they're in front of and even the neighborhood itself," he said.
A few aldermen—like Rocco LaMacchia—thought the wording in the proposed ordinance was too vague. "What if a guy decides to put, let's say, a bathtub in there and wants to use it as a bird bath," LaMacchia asked. "Where do we draw the line?"
Michalski responded by pointing to a height restriction in the proposed ordinance and additional language that prohibits things in parkways that would impede the flow of traffic.
As for those property owners who were the subject of the disgruntled neighbor's complaints---they all received warning letters but no fines.
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