The Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department,
Environmental and Consumer Health Unit recently cited one of my
neighbors for having on his 4 acre lot in Travis County a:

"condition constituting a public nuisance, to wit: high grass and
weeds, rubbish, trash and debris: objectionable material: and standing
water." (Form LN Weed/Rub 7/1/02)

This was cited as a violation of Chapter 341 of the Texas Health and
Safety Code. I looked over the code and the language is very vague
and potentially highly restrictive on leaving "natural habitats" in
your yard. It would easily preclude my little piece of native prairie
as it might constitute a fire hazard, harbour rodents and snakes, and
be objectionable to those who prefer mowed lawns.

Anyone else seen one of these?

Rusty Mase


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On Mon, 23 Jun 2003 17:50:27 -0500, Rusty Mase
wrote:


Anyone else seen one of these?

I get one every year. This one was for a bush whose branches hung
over the road, and grass/weeds in the back yard over 12". Plus
'weeds' in the front yard which are really sunflowers (it's hard to
tell until they blooed this weekend). They came and took pictures
and sent copies of the pictures, certified and regular mail.

There's pently of forest in the back yard and there's really no
definite line where the trees/weeds and the lawn cough begins.

You have one week to fix the problem, or they threaten to come and do
it themsleves and charge you exhorborant fees, plus legal remedies.

The next-door neighbor is the one that called; they usually don't some
unprovoked. The next door neighbor is another story altogether.

-sw

On Mon, 23 Jun 2003 18:10:50 -0500, Steve Wertz
wrote:

The next-door neighbor is the one that called; they usually don't some
unprovoked.

Yes, I suspect in most cases these come down to little more than a
disagreement between neighbors. I wonder if the county ever follows
up and actually cleans up a privately-owned yard and bills the owner?
That would make the papers, though. The last one I read about was the
guy in Austin who had created little more than a junk yard.

It is interesting they use the term "public nuisance", though, and not
something like a condition that offers a real threat to the public
health and safety. The form letter is sufficiently rude to scare the
daylights out of the uninitiated, though, as my neighbor will testify.

Rusty Mase


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"Rusty Mase" wrote in message
...
| The Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department,
| Environmental and Consumer Health Unit recently cited one of my
| neighbors for having on his 4 acre lot in Travis County a:
|
| "condition constituting a public nuisance, to wit: high grass and
| weeds, rubbish, trash and debris: objectionable material: and
standing
| water." (Form LN Weed/Rub 7/1/02)
|
| This was cited as a violation of Chapter 341 of the Texas Health and
| Safety Code. I looked over the code and the language is very vague
| and potentially highly restrictive on leaving "natural habitats" in
| your yard. It would easily preclude my little piece of native
prairie
| as it might constitute a fire hazard, harbour rodents and snakes,
and
| be objectionable to those who prefer mowed lawns.
|
| Anyone else seen one of these?
|
| Rusty Mase
|
|

We had a neighbor who tried to lay one of these on us. They had rats
and blamed our compost pile. The health department people came out,
looked at our yard, laughed, and apologized. Who knows what they told
the obnoxo neighbors, who have since gone to the 'burbs, where they
belonged in the first place.

On Tue, 24 Jun 2003 07:34:46 -0500, Rusty Mase
wrote:

It is interesting they use the term "public nuisance", though, and not
something like a condition that offers a real threat to the public
health and safety.
Their argument that tall grasses harbor rodents is pretty weak. If
they aren't in my yard proper, then they'll be 30ft away in the 200+
acres of woodlands that border the property.

One neighbor grows corn and also has bamboo. Both are tall grasses
over 12".

-sw