Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[payn]

So where I live, you can have long grass if it’s a specific type that was typical in the area before Europeans settled here. There’s a house a few blocks away with long prairie grass and last time I went by there they had small little signs on the edge that explained what the type of grass is and some other info. There might be some city ordinances you have to follow, I am not sure of that part.

The University of Minnesota has a pretty interesting article explaining the process of growing and maintaining it.

St Anthony sent letters this spring reminding everyone that grass must not exceed 2 inches and that no mow May is not an exception from the law. No hoa here just my city. Though st a is known as one of the best city adjacent neighborhoods and has some of the highest prop taxes in the state. You pay for it but nobody is gonna hurt your investment here.

 

[Velderan]

St Anthony sent letters this spring reminding everyone that grass must not exceed 2 inches and that no mow May is not an exception from the law. No hoa here just my city. Though st a is known as one of the best city adjacent neighborhoods and has some of the highest prop taxes in the state. You pay for it but nobody is gonna hurt your investment here.

The only reminders we get each year are for snow removal, which luckily we don't have a sidewalk on our side of the street so it's largely a non-issue for us.

 

[payn]

The only reminders we get each year are for snow removal, which luckily we don't have a sidewalk on our side of the street so it's largely a non-issue for us.

Funny thing about no now may is because of my flower garden I’m also on the pollinator pathway endorses by the city. Bees come second to property taxes also they don’t pay any lol

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Re: the garish house, etc.

That kind of aesthetic can and does affect resale values. In addition, without done kind of external (city, HOA, etc.) rules regarding decorative aesthetics, materials & horticultural decisions, you could have homes with truly objectionable or even dangerous features, such as unmarked toxic plants (see Alnwick Garden) or pornographic/violent vinyl siding or wall wraps.

Local government -- which is elected, subject to public records and open meetings laws, etc. -- is more than capable of preventing actual dangers to the community.

Civil courts can keep neighbors from torpedoing everyone else's property values (damage to property value is very easy to measure and, thus, show the court that someone's behavior has damaged you).

HOAs are basically for people who want their aesthetic choices to rule the community.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

All I know is if a neighbor having an odd choice for paint on their house can lower your property value, I wish it would be reflected on property taxes while you own the house. I would definitely try to work out an agreement with my neighbors for us all to paint our houses ridiculous colors.

You should be able to petition your county assessor to recalculate your home value periodically if something has provably lowered it.

County assessors are one of those local government agencies who are thrilled to have actual human contact periodically.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

On the other side of the coin, my HOA voted to remove almost all the trees in the neighborhood (a variety of willows and oaks) and replace them with Bradford Pear trees. My wife hates these trees with a passion. They're weak, so after every storm you have new scratches on your car from flying branches. They smell bad. And they're an invasive species. But they were uniform in appearance, and I'm sure one of the people in the HOA council made a nice profit selling them to the HOA. So, yay capitalism.

Another good example of how an actual local government would have been better.

Depending on your state, there would have had to have been an environmental impact review done before making this sort of decision and it would have been easy to get your local news to do a story about the local city council spending tax dollars to tear out native trees and replace them with an invasive species that damages cars.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

But you seem to be misunderstanding the purpose of your neighbors' homes.

Not missing that. Not at all. I’m including “within a community”.

Every right comes with a corresponding responsibility or limitation. The non-bigotry based limitations on what you can/can’t do with your home within a community are generally applications of Wheaton’s Law.

For example, you can be forced to trim or remove foliage on your property that obstructs sidewalks or your house number, or that intrudes onto your neighbor’s property, above or below the ground.

Tall grass and unkempt lawns can be problematic as well. I have no problem with diversity of flora & fauna, and we do have houses in the area that have eschewed traditional lawns in favor of xeriscapes or a mix of plants that almost completely obscure their house from the roadside. But while I live in a city-locked suburb of D/FW, we still have significant greenspaces & wildlife, and some of it is dangerous: venomous snakes, bobcats, coyotes and an alligator have all been spotted in my neighborhood. We had some crossvines that had unwittingly become home to a rat colony.*

You want to do whatever you want without interference from meddlesome neighbors, move somewhere without neighbors.





* We’d have taken it down for that reason, but the fence it was growing on was also on the verge of collapse, so it was going away regardless.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Depending on your state, there would have had to have been an environmental impact review done before making this sort of decision and it would have been easy to get your local news to do a story about the local city council spending tax dollars to tear out native trees and replace them with an invasive species that damages cars.

In our subdivision, nearly all of the tree removal was done by the original builder/developers. The HOA didn’t have a hand in those decisions.

(They can, however, nix certain replacements plants.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

generally applications of Wheaton’s Law.

"Don't blame the actor for the terrible way the part was written?"

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In our subdivision, nearly all of the tree removal was done by the original builder/developers. The HOA didn’t have a hand in those decisions.

(They can, however, nix certain replacements plants.)

Yeah, the local government should have been more involved at the building stage, but lots of jurisdictions will just say "hooray, tax dollars" and let new businesses do whatever they want.