(WGTD)---A neighborhood spat has resulted in potential legal trouble for dozens of Kenosha homeowners. Now the city is moving to get the residents off the hook.
It all started when neighbors complained that a woman’s attempt to beautify her property by installing a landscaping border immediately adjacent to the sidewalk created a tripping hazard.
Miffed, the woman started driving around town photographing parkways—the legal name for city-owned areas between the sidewalk and curb—that sprouted anything other than grass.
She wound up filing thirty complaints that forced the city to send out warning letters. Turns out decorative plantings in parkways are not specifically allowed. "This is one of those situations that most people didn't ever realize they were in violation of any city ordinance," Ald. Jan Michalski said at Monday's meeting of the city's Public Works Committee.
For the last several months, Michalski has been working to change the ordinance on parkways to conditionally allow creative landscaping. "A lot of people decided this is how I beautify my house," Michalski said. "These people are not doing any harm to the aesthetics (of a neighborhood)," he said.
The city’s Public Works Committee recommended approval of the changes Monday night, even though committee member Dave Bogdala questioned whether there’d be some unintended consequences, such as poor upkeep, leading to, for instance, scatterings of mulch on sidewalks.
The measure will now be considered by the full council next week.
Some of the people who received the warning letters late last summer apparently took the message to heart and have already removed their plantings, Michalski said
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