We last reported on North Mankato's war on natural lawns in early February with North Mankato lawn wars: City Council passes natural yards ordinance limiting pollinator habitat.
Before that, there was North Mankato natural lawn fight update: Borchardt sues city for public nuisance order.
On Thursday, Kristine Goodrich reported for the Mankato Free Press in Appeals court hears arguments over yard declared nuisance:
What qualifies as “rank vegetation” and how many annoyed people constitutes a “considerable number?”
Those were central questions argued before the Minnesota Court of Appeals Thursday over the condition of a North Mankato couple’s yard.
Last December the North Mankato City Council declared Edward and Ann Borchardt’s property at 229 Allan Ave. a public nuisance. The council found the property has “rank growth of vegetation” and “unsightly vegetation” that provides a habitat for “rodents and other animals” that “causes a public health concern” and “unreasonably annoys a considerable number of members of the neighboring properties.”
The council ordered city staff to continue to work with the Borchardts to remedy the council’s findings.
The Borchardts appealed the findings, with arguments including that the city ordinances are unconstitutionally vague and the city does not have enough evidence to show the couple is in violation of city ordinances.
The case initially was filed in Nicollet County District Court but later appealed directly to the Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction in reviewing such city decisions.
In addition to dismissing the public nuisance declaration, the Borchardts are asking the Court of Appeals to require the city to update its ordinances.
A panel of Court of Appeals judges heard arguments in a virtual hearing Thursday morning. The panel now may take up to 90 days to issue a ruling.
Karl O. Friedrichs, attorney for the Borchardts, told the appellate judges the city’s public nuisance ordinances are not clear.
“There can’t be an ordinance whose violation depends on whether or not the enforcement officer is annoyed,” Friedrichs said.
The average resident would not know what is the “rank vegetation” prohibited by city ordinance, Friedrich contended, and the city never provided a written itemization of what vegetation on the property violated ordinances.
Friedrichs also questioned another section of city code that defines a public nuisance as “a condition which unreasonably annoys, injures, or endangers the safety, health, morals, comfort or repose of any considerable number of members of the public.”
The “unreasonable” and “considerable number” parts are too vague, Friedrichs contended.
Only two neighbors spoke in opposition to the Borchardt property at the December council meeting, the attorney noted.
“There’s nothing on the Borchardt property that prevents folks from raising their families in the community,” he said. “It has vegetation that is similar to what exists at city parks. So I don’t understand where there is an issue and a public nuisance that affects a large number of members of the public.” . . .
Read the rest at the Mankato Free Press.
As pollinator appreciators, our sympathy is with the Borchardts.
Related posts:
- North Mankato lawn wars: City Council passes natural yards ordinance limiting pollinator habitat
- North Mankato natural lawn fight update: Borchardt sues city for public nuisance order
- Buzz kill: North Mankato Planning Commission not so much into lawns to legumes
- North Mankato declares “Monarch Wayfair” lawn a public nuisance from “infestation of the premises by plants, animals, and birds”
- Strib picks up North Mankato lawn police story
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