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July 27, 2022 • 10 hours ago • 4 minutes read • 16 comments Judith McCullough is pictured outside her Victoria Avenue home on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. She and her neighbors are protesting City Council orders of Windsor to remove plants and landscape elements, such as these flat stones, on the municipal road. According to a municipal regulation, grass or Astroturf are acceptable alternatives. Photo by Dan Janisse/Windsor Star
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A year after being ordered to remove native plants and landscaping along the sidewalk in front of their homes, but then with temporary compensation, the owners of a small stretch of Victoria Avenue are back to have a deadline to clear the municipal right. – way
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As two of the acceptable alternatives, the City of Windsor suggests green grass or artificial green Astroturf.
“Failure to comply with the order will result in the City taking the necessary corrective action,” says a July 18 letter delivered to four homes adjacent to the 1300 block, each with an Aug. 2 removal deadline. After that, a city public warned the building inspector, the city council would do the work and bill the property owner.
It may come as a surprise to many Windsorites who perform or simply enjoy the naturalized beautification of the boulevard, but under Ordinance 25-2010 there is very little in the way of landscaping that is acceptable without a paid permit or agreement of invasion signed, along the right of the city. -passing next to sidewalks and streets.
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We receive complaints and must do our due diligence
It was just three months ago that Windsor’s public works department amended its right-of-way “best engineering practice” document by adding “ground cover” (plants up to four inches tall) to the list previously allowed only grass or Astroturf.
“It’s very frustrating … what we have is much better for the environment,” Elizabeth Hanes said of the banned plants at her landscaped Victoria Avenue address.
Trish Andrews is shown at her home on Victoria Avenue on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. The City of Windsor issued orders to four adjacent property owners to remove plants and landscaping such as fences and stones from sidewalk easements. Photo by Dan Janisse/Windsor Star
The front yard and boulevard, he said, feature native species that are drought tolerant, don’t require irrigation and have a cooling effect during heat waves like the one the city is currently experiencing. Not only do her plants and garden consistently draw positive comments from passersby, her husband Rob Thibert added, but when Windsor experiences another downpour that threatens to flood the neighborhood’s basement, she said the plants, shrubs and trees natives in front of the house capture much more rain runoff than any monoculture lawn.
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Ward 3 Coun. Rino Bortolin said he will take up the matter at the next city council meeting in August. He believes there are easily thousands of other properties in Windsor that would be in violation of By-law 25-2010, which covers any encroachment on city-owned land, whether it’s landscaping, a tree, shrub or rock, a wall, a fence , a hedge or a widened driveway. .
All it takes, Bortolin said, is for an angry neighbor or anyone else to call the city’s 311 line and file a complaint, as was the case with the four homeowners targeted in the 1300 block of Victoria Avenue.
Don’t blame the public works inspectors, he said: “When there’s a complaint, the City has to act.”
Judith McCullough is shown at her home on Victoria Avenue Tuesday next to a decades-old fence post that the city has ordered removed as part of public right-of-way cleanup orders. Photo by Dan Janisse/Windsor Star
Bortolin said his problem is with the statute itself. “What I think is that our policies lean too much towards risk aversion rather than quality of life; we allow liability to be the determining factor,” he said.
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“We get complaints and we have to do our due diligence,” said Andrew Lewis, the city’s right-of-way and field services coordinator. “If something were to happen, we would be sued,” he said, adding that this has been the city’s experience with passersby slipping, tripping or falling on plants and objects placed in the public right-of-way.
“It’s not their property to do whatever they see fit,” Lewis said, adding that he’s all for beautifying these public spaces of passage. Landscaping and planting of native species along the right-of-way in Windsor is not prohibited, he said, but it may require a permit (starting at $212) and the property owner assuming responsibility through an easement agreement. invasion that includes insurance coverage.
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Having seen little political action since the first notices were issued on their block a year ago, Hanes, Thibert and their neighbors said they hope to be able to address city hall in the future close. They also just launched an online petition “Allow Biodiverse Plants in City Easements” on change.org.
Calling the current statute and rules “just archaic,” Hanes points to “more progressive” statutes in other cities. Guelph, for example, is even pushing the concept, stating on its municipal website that “a boulevard garden can greatly enhance your neighborhood with colorful and aromatic plants … (and) add interest and texture to a part of the your otherwise uninspiring property.”
Elizabeth Hanes is shown at her home on Victoria Avenue on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. She has been ordered by the City of Windsor to remove plants and landscaping stones from the public sidewalk easement. Photo by Dan Janisse/Windsor Star
Guelph not only encourages alternatives to grass, but offers advice on planting methods, lists which species are best suited for a given site and offers maintenance tips.
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The city orders boulevard gardeners to replace native plants with Astroturf
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The City Council urged to approve the repression in the gardens of the boulevard
Lewis said Bylaw 25-2010, one of the few enforced by public works inspectors instead of city charter officials, is “pretty straightforward” and designed to protect the public as well as defend demands directed at the city. He described the newly amended BP3.2.2 engineering best practice document as “evolving” and something the council may ask administration to review further.
In the meantime, Lewis said, his department is asked to respond to about 1,000 right-of-way complaints called into 311 annually by citizens. “About 80 percent of those result in some sort of warrant or educational visit,” he said.
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