New Naperville lawn restrictions could be in place by end of summer
The rising number of foreclosures and transitions from owner-occupied homes to rentals in Naperville is triggering a huge jump in landscaping complaints being investigated by city code inspectors.
So far this year, the city has seen a spike in the number of complaints about unruly lawns to more than 280 compared to the 40 it fielded all of last year.
“Those figures are just off the charts, crazy high,” Councilman Steve Chirico said. “(The code enforcement department) is going crazy right now. They are not able to even do the proactive work of driving the streets and finding these things for themselves. They’re only responding to complaints because there are so many.”
Last season, the city hired a local landscaper to mow 30 of the 40 unkempt yards at a cost of $35 each to the property owners.
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.
Upon receipt of a complaint, the city’s code enforcement department issues a letter to the homeowner indicating the lawn must be mowed by a certain date. If the grass has not been mowed, a code officer goes to the site, confirms the violation and issues a citation. The officer then coordinates with the city’s contractor for mowing.
Already this season the city has mowed 11 lots, with 10 more scheduled in the coming week.
And based on last year’s low compliance rate to demands owners mow their lawns, the city may wind up mowing hundreds more this summer.
Chirico has asked staff to come up with a more aggressive approach to head off the growing number of violations. He’s seeking an ordinance that would make it mandatory for absentee landlords and bank-owned properties to have a professional landscape company take care of their yards and comes with an increased fine for those who don’t.
“I’m hoping they come back with something in the $75 (per incident) range, a price that both discourages multiple violations and covers staff time for coordinating the mowing,” Chirico said.
Naperville Area Homeowners Confederation President Robert Buckman confirmed that foreclosures and increased rentals have led to a lack of lawn upkeep in some neighborhoods. He supports Chirico’s attempts to tighten the restrictions on negligent homeowners
“The confederation is looking at what we can do to help the city council make the city look better and make those who are not keeping up their property accountable,” Buckman said. “We’re seeing this problem occurring more and more as the economy is tightening.
“No one wants to add laws just to have laws, but we need to maintain the value of the community.”
While calling for landscapers to maintain the yards of blighted, foreclosed property, Chirico also would like to dictate when that work is done. He hopes to fold the mowing restrictions of a professional landscaping service into the same restrictions contractors must abide by on weekends.
The city allows for interior and exterior construction to take place between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. It prohibits such work on Sundays.
Because the change would require an amendment to the building code, the process must begin at the city’s planing and zoning commission. That process would allow the council to take action, likely no sooner than the third week in August.
“Technically we could use the new rules at the tail end of this summer but at the very least we could have solid rules in place to start next summer,” Chirico said. “It’s a start.”