Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Neighbor's Yard OUT of CONTROL
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June 2, 2015 at 6:31 pm #817584
kellymParticipantMy neighbor has not cut his grass in 6 months, his backyard is completely covered in blackberries and morning glories which grow over and under my fence and I know harbor critters. This mess is also encroaching on the alley. What city department would I contact on this? I’ve lived next to him for 20 years and conversations on this subject have led nowhere.
June 2, 2015 at 7:34 pm #824618
WSBKeymasterIf it’s encroaching on city property (sidewalk, street, alley, assuming it’s not a privately owned alley – there are some of those), DPD:
http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/codesrules/makeacomplaint/default.htm
June 2, 2015 at 8:26 pm #824619
wsn00bParticipantkellym: Good luck with DPD. Enforcing sketchy yards is way down on their priority list. http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/toolsresources/Map/default.htm (check property complaints) and see how many are unresolved for months with no action.
I’ve given up on my complaint (talked to the neighbor, no action, contacted DPD) which has been unresolved for 3 years. I’m surrounded on 3 sides with completely sketchy yards with one of those yards having junk cars too.
Even City owned properties and streets aren’t maintained. West Seattle Bridge at 35th is a great example of a complete weedfest that hasn’t been trimmed in decades.
June 2, 2015 at 8:44 pm #824620
kellymParticipantThanks all…I know it’s almost futile. We had some issues with a verrrry sketchy house across the street. I don’t know if someone or maybe SPD sicced SFD on these people but the fire department would roll up once or twice a year. Must have been citing a fire hazard? It was a drug house and I suspect the law was trying to harass them out of there…
June 2, 2015 at 9:53 pm #824621
clulessinwsParticipantI filed a report recently for a plot of land with 2 rentals. Grass is thigh high. Growing into the street and sidewalk. Totally in violation according to the dpd website. We’ll see if anything is done. I drive by every day. If it’s not cleaned up or I can’t see an update when tracking it on the dpd webdite, I am going to keep hammering the inspector. Hope you do the same kellym.
June 2, 2015 at 10:41 pm #824622
PangolinPieParticipantI have a similar problem with a neighbor’s VERY weed-filled yard. I wouldn’t care if the damn bindweed (morning glory’s evil cousin) wouldn’t keep trying to take over my side of the fence. If I were a different person, I’d dump a bucket of Roundup over the fence. :(
June 2, 2015 at 10:46 pm #824623
JoBParticipanti didn’t dump roundup but i did go in when they weren’t home with a week wacker and cut a 2ft corridor on their side of the fence.
surprisingly, the homeowner thanked me. he was overwhelmed by the problem.
June 2, 2015 at 10:46 pm #824624
wsn00bParticipantPangolinPie: Nice idea. I have a bunch of some RoundUp-like product lying around. Tempting… :)
June 2, 2015 at 10:57 pm #824625
clulessinwsParticipantPangolin you raise a good point. My neighbors have massive dandelion infestations. The seeds are easily deposited by wind on my yard. I take care of my yard/property unlike my neighbors so it’s an uphill battle. Never can get rid of the weeds totally. My neighbors don’t care. So I have two options, give in and become a danelion garden or work extra hard to just keep my grass mostly free of weeds. Thanks “neighbors”.
June 2, 2015 at 11:00 pm #824626
clulessinwsParticipantDon’t have a yard if you can’t take care of it or can’t pay someone to do it for you.
June 2, 2015 at 11:02 pm #824627
PangolinPieParticipantI could even deal with just dandelion seeds, though they’re no friend of mine. But that bindweed…you try to pull it and it breaks off at the root. And even a quarter inch of root will regrow into a new plant. A taproot can go 30 feet underground, and the seeds remain viable for more than FIFTY years! It’s a never-ending battle, and it sure doesn’t help when my neighbor is harboring the enemy.
I agree; if you can’t take care of your yard, you should at least keep it from invading your neighbors’ yards.
June 3, 2015 at 12:14 am #824628
wsn00bParticipantIf the neighbor was a considerate (about their yard being a breeding ground) to begin with, they would care for the whole yard. In most cases, I think it is more of an attitude/priority problem rather than the capability or means to keep the yard.
There a few edge cases when you have a person who has other personal/financial/health problems that prevent them. But for the most part those neighbors are just being bad neighbors (even if it is their fundamental right to wallow in their property that has the maintenance level of a pig sty)
June 3, 2015 at 1:06 am #824629
karenParticipantI really tried to stay out of this but the last comment just hit me wrong. I am not a bad neighbor. However, my yard is not my top priority and it gets long sometimes. I like to let my chickens graze, so I don’t spray for weeds. Actually, I enjoy the clover and dandelions and the bees that they bring. I don’t see this as an attitude problem. My yard, my rules. Those who don’t like it may feel free to move to a neighborhood with an association.
I’m not a fan of dogs peeing on my fence. Or the neighbor that plays loud music all day long while he works outside. Sometimes people park in front of my house in “my” space. All part of living in a neighborhood.
However, when I had surgery, a neighbor came over and helped me at home. When I was out working on my car, two different neighbors stopped by to offer assistance. And even though I don’t like the dog peeing on my fence post, I enjoy my conversation with the dog walker.
A nice yard is not what makes a good neighbor, tolerance is.
June 3, 2015 at 1:26 am #824630
annaeileenParticipantI couldn’t agree more Karen and my thought is, if you want everyone’s house to look the same, you need to live in a housing development with rules!
I really enjoy weeding and I used to spend all weekend at my old house weeding and taking care of my yard while many of my neighbors would maybe mow once in a while or not at all – forget weeding! I would rather have that then a strict, rule oriented HOA telling me what my house and yard can look like. That means some neighbors don’t take care of their house the same as I do and that includes peeling paint, old cars in the driveway and yard art – things I might not like but I accept. Neighborhoods are made up of different styles, people and tastes.
June 3, 2015 at 1:28 am #824631
JoBParticipantWell said Karen…
our assumptions about why someone does or does not “keep up” their yard are often walls preventing us from seeing the people who live inside.
June 3, 2015 at 2:12 am #824632
clulessinwsParticipantIf it’s ok to do what you want then why does DPD even exist or investigate vegetation concerns? Why is it illegal to store a broken down car on your lawn?
June 3, 2015 at 2:16 am #824633
clulessinwsParticipantJob you could say the same thing about dog owners who let their dogs off leash illegally. I know it bugs you. It bugs me too. Why do you feel the laws around property are different?
June 3, 2015 at 2:18 am #824634
clulessinwsParticipantI agree that neighborhoods are made up of different tastes. I never said or meant to imply they had to be HOA-esque, just legal. The laws about property upkeep are pretty lenient.
June 3, 2015 at 2:50 am #824635
singularnameParticipantdamn nature.
June 3, 2015 at 3:14 am #824636
WSBKeymasterMost vegetation violations that DPD enforces involve encroachment into the public right-of-way – grown over the sidewalk, for example, or tree branches too low over the street. NOT “lawn hasn’t been mowed.”
Here’s a really handy one-sheet that explains:
http://www.seattle.gov/DPD/publications/CAM/cam611.pdf
-TR
June 3, 2015 at 4:26 am #824637
kayoParticipantWe have a neighbor with an overgrown yard, but I like to think of it as wildlife habitat. :) Honestly, I’d much rather have that then a heavily chemically treated perfect lawn. I do understand the frustration though. I have to pull a lot of runaway morning glory out from under our shared fence.
June 3, 2015 at 5:42 am #824638
PangolinPieParticipantI feel like there’s a happy medium between overrun greenbelt and chemically-treated golf course lawn. And I do wonder whether completely uncared-for yards have an effect on the value of homes around them. But ultimately I don’t care how long someone’s lawn is or how many dandelions they have — all I care about is the extra work that someone else’s little green invaders cause me. Seems like their (totally valid) right to have a wild area ends at the fence line.
June 3, 2015 at 2:33 pm #824639
JoBParticipantcluelessinws..
your analogy to people who illegally use our public spaces as off leash dog areas made me stop and think.
i live in the intersection of 3 neighbors who let their yards/outbuildings/junk cars/abandoned boats and RVs get out of control so i am most familiar with not only the aggravation but the continual invasion of unwanted critters of all kinds from those yards.
I can’t tell you how much time and money i have spent controlling those incursions into my personal space and interacting with my neighbors to help them control their little patch of urban neglect.
I think for me the difference between that and off leash dogs is that no matter how burdensome the effort is.. i can control the impact of the my neighbor’s unkempt property on my personal space, but i can’t control the impact of an off leash dog’s advance on me and my leashed dogs.
The same can be said for fireworks…
I can stand and fight for my personal space when my neighbors don’t take care of their property but i have no choice but to run from off-leash dogs or fireworks.
i have chosen Pangolini’s happy medium.. i pull of the heads of dandelions when they pop up and live with a front lawn full of clover and still have managed to create an urban oasis that causes people to linger at my front gate…
But.. my neighbors are about to launch an assault i can’t contain and from which i can’t flee.
one of my neighbors sold so i now get to fend off the impact of construction next door.. the house and lot will be a complete teardown.
I have lived with nearly a year of on and off construction on the storm gardens on my street.. and the urban renewal on the next street and now i get to live with another season of construction noise next door followed by another likely season or two as the lots around me are sold off… the neighbor behind me is now in a care facility and is unlikely to emerge so the clean up process has begun across the alley as well and he has a developer’s dream.. a double lot… and my other fence neighbor is spending more and more of his time in Alaska with his daughter and grandchildren.
that noise is something i can’t manage… it impacts my health to an extent that leaves me pretty much housebound .. i don’t leave much these days without someone accompanying me:(
While I am guessing that KellyM would be over the moon to find urban renewal on her doorstep.. i am not… and it has gone on long enough and impacted my health enough that i can no longer run:(
I would far rather fight the incursion of the urban jungles next door than deal with the impact of that which i can can’t change and can’t avoid:(
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