Naperville councilman drops bid for mowing restrictions
Naperville City Councilman Steve Chirico fought the lawn and the lawn won.
Saying he lost the support of the Naperville Area Homeowners Confederation, Chirico has dropped his push to limit hours during which professional mowers can work in Naperville. The city, however, is planning to increase fines for homeowners who do not obey ordinances limiting the height of grass.
“When I spoke to (the Confederation) earlier this spring, they gave me a lot of supportive feedback and encouraged me to pursue this, so I did,” Chirico said. “But I’ve since received a letter from them stating they have concerns and want to see more data.”
Confederation President Robert Buckman said the organization withdrew its support based on two concerns.
“There are 50,000 homes in the city and we were not given data to indicate exactly how prevalent the complaints were regarding this issue,” Buckman said. “Secondly, we were concerned that so many new laws are being created for specific instances and one day they may begin to interfere with the right of the everyday homeowner.”
That was all Chirico needed to hear.
“Ultimately, if I don’t have their full support, I didn’t feel like this was something I wanted to do,” Chirico said.
The Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce was also less than excited about Chirico’s plan, but he expected that.
“I would expect them to be against it,” he said.
Chirico first proposed the landscaping limits, which would have allowed professional mowing from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and prohibited such work on Sundays, in May. He said mowing crews can be “very disruptive” when they descend on neighborhoods with high percentages of rental or foreclosed homes on the weekends when others are trying to enjoy their homes and yards.
Despite dropping the mowing restrictions, Chirico has asked city staff to propose an increase to the fees charged to banks or landlords who don’t maintain lawns on their properties.
According to the city code, grass and/or weeds may not exceed 5 inches in height in the right of way and 8 inches on private property.
Currently Naperville can issue a $100 citation to the owner and also charge $35 for the city’s contractor to do the mowing. Chirico has asked for the charge be increased to at least $75, but Marcie Shatz, director of the city’s transportation, engineering and development group, said she is hoping the fee will be enough to cover both the cost of the mowing and the city’s administrative costs for scheduling the mowing.
The city council is expected to debate a proposed fee structure next month.