dc koop

Make sense of this. Less than a year before it was officially declared that California was in a drought situation a homeowner where I live was taken to court and fined 500 dollars by the city for allowing the grass on his front lawn to die. Worse still his name and address were published in the local news rag. This person was unfortunate since there were other properties where lawns had been allowed to die but in this case he was probably reported to the city by some nasty neighbor.

Nine months later the city issued a memo to all homeowners that watering was to be restricted for a limited time and at only certain hours of the day. The city were even encouraging people to let their laws die and if they wished replace the grass with astro turf.

California governor Jerry Brown declared that "Brown is the new color of California" Trying to be witty no doubt

Anyway what it all boils down to is that the poor individual who got hammered for saving water paid 500 dollars for doing exactly what the State and City law mandated

tom169

Why is the city bothered about someone's lawn? Is there an ordinance for it to try keep the place pretty?

dc koop

Yes there is and the city even provide a complaint number to call if a homeowner keeps such things as junk cars in the driveway, allows too many weeds to grow in the front yard, parks a vehicle on the front lawn and parks a motor home or camper in the driveway instead of parking it either in the rear of the house or at the side of the house behind a closed gate

Fireworks are not allowed on 4th July and owners of barking dogs causing nuisance to neighbors get maximum of 3 warnings before the dog is taken to the pound

tom169

Land of the free and all that.

Pulaski

Happens in NC too, and probably all other states, there are city and town ordinances on mowing your grass, not parking in your front yard, having branches piled in your yard, etc. etc. I can certainly see that having too many weeds or allowing your grass to die could see you being fined. .....Don't pay and the city will put a lien on your home!

America, "land of the free", .... my ar§ë!

Asg123

They were even paying you to kill the lawn and replace it with drought-resistant plants, etc.

mrken30

Some animals are more free than others.

dc koop

I had a bit of a battle to save my lawn which has St Augustine grass and needs regular watering. Letting it grow really high and a bit of clandestine watering in dead of night did it.

Meanwhile up at the running track behind our local middle school some of the sprinkler heads around the track were spewing water onto the track instead of onto the grass center field and turning the track into a miniature lake every evening. I brought this to the attention of the city parks dept. We'll take care of it they said.

Did they **** !

mrken30

I hate going through all my accounts and changing passwords. Thanks cloudbleed.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/0...personal_data/

robin1234

Well, I've never heard of this anywhere in New York. Folks in NYS dry their laundry outside, grow noxious weeds galore (including luxuriant stands of Japanese knotweed) and park junked cars everywhere.

This type of thing may happen in Long Island though ....

Pulaski

Enforcement in small-town NC can be very patchy, and often appears to operate on a snitch basis.

zzrmark

Hmmm, we had some 'friendly' advice from our neighbour that the HOA was cracking down on the way certain residents parked their cars in the neighbourhood. Lo and behold, the very next day there was a shirty letter from the HOA attached to the windshield of one of our 'offending' vehicles. Bitch.

tom169

I've told my realtor one of my solid rules is no HOA. I can't stand the things.

Nutek

Pulaski

I entirely agree with your philosophy, but that is going to severely restrict your choice in the nicer parts of Charlotte, to the extent that I will be genuinely surprised if you find somewhere agreeable given that stipulation, as HoAs seem to be omnipresent in Charlotte subdivs going back around 40-50 years. ...... That said, I think your options will be most likely on non-subdiv roads and/or older properties, which have there own drawbacks.

Much as I dislike HoAs, bear in mind that in larger subdivs membership of the HoA typically comes with membership of a pool and sports facilities such as a gym and tennis courts.

Also, per my post above, you will still be subject to Charlotte city ordinances, covering such things as grass mowing and yard maintenance (e.g. bushes and tree obstructing or overhanging the sidewalk), parking (on and off-street), the sort of furniture allowed on your porch, unlicensed cars, not leaving your garbage can by the kerb, etc. etc.