The City of Windsor will be stepping up enforcement on property owners that neglect their landscaping.
On Monday, city council voted in favour of enhancing its dirty yard bylaw after Ward 2 councillor Fabio Costante first brought the issue forward in September.
He tells AM800 news, he's heard from a number of residents voicing concerns about unsightly and overgrown landscaping.
Costante says since it fell under landscaping, city bylaw officers could not enforce the bylaw.
"Because the bylaw wasn't specific in enforcing landscape overgrowth, our bylaw officers couldn't do much," he says. "So this allows our bylaw officers to enforce that type of neglect and so I'm delighted that council passed the motion and I'm hopeful that moving forward, we'll see better enforcement as a result."
Costante feels it was time to enhance the bylaw, adding "These are just more tools in the tool kit if you will to better enforce property standards and dirty yards and essentially neglect of properties," says Costante.
According to Costante, the bylaw will help differentiate proper landscaping, including naturalization, and neglect.
"That was really the issue we were coming across was, it was so obvious that some of these properties were being neglected but because it fell under the category of landscaping, it was difficult to enforce," he says. "So now I think this bylaw allows us to draw that distinction a little bit better."
According to the report presented to council, Toronto and Ottawa also regulate neglected landscaping such as hedges, shrubs and trees on private properties.
The report also pointed out, the city may see increased call volumes resulting in delayed response times.