Sometimes a dispute between neighbors is just a dispute between neighbors, and not a matter for the Township trustees.
“I can’t do something just because a neighbor is unhappy,” said Jerome Township Zoning Officer Mark Spagnuolo.
The comments came this morning, following Monday night’s meeting of the township trustees. At the meeting, Jay and Pam Sturwold, of Ward Road complained about a neighbor who was growing “a brand new weed patch.”
Jay Sturwold said he and the neighbor live in a subdivision. The property is zoned rural residential and all the homes sit on parcels of two acres or more. Sturwold said there are deed covenants for the property, but there is not a homeowners’ association.
He said the neighbors, Jim and Angela Dygert, were allowing a portion of their property to grow natural and were not mowing it. He said the grass and weeds were more than five feet high in spots. The Sturwolds said the grass is attracting animals and seeds from the grasses are blowing into their yard.
“Our main concern is home value deterioration,” Jay Sturwold told the trustees, adding that several other neighbors felt the same way.
The meeting actually got contentious before it began. Sturwold approached the Dygerts and said they could make it easy and just cut the grass. When Jim Dygert said he wanted to hear the presentation to the trustees, Sturwold began to yell.
He called Dygert a liar.
Pam Sturwold said the Dygerts should not have moved into a subdivision if they wanted to live in the country.
During the meeting, the conversation again got contentious. Trustee C.J. Lovejoy restored order by saying the families could talk to the trustees or they could leave.
Jim Dygert said he doesn’t look at the area as a weed patch.
“We look at that area as a natural area that we left there as a buffer,” Dygert said.
He said the area has many trees and tall grass. He said he doesn’t want to see his neighbor’s back porch and doesn’t want his neighbors looking at his porch.
The Dygerts said they have spoken to some neighbors who do not have a problem with the grassy area. Jim Dygert said animals and grass are to be expected.
“You are going to have that,” he said. “You live in the country.”
Spagnuolo, who was not at the meeting, said the township doesn’t have many options.
“At the end of the day, I am really not sure we have the legal authority to tell him he has to do anything differently,” Spagnuolo said.
He explained that the township can mow abandoned and nuisance properties, but “I really don’t see this as one of those situations.”
He said the Dygert property is “not in violation of any zoning code that I know of or can think of.”
He said if the trustees directed him to act, he would consult an attorney, but he doesn’t think there is anything that can be done.
He said there is a slippery slope that comes from telling property owners what to do. He cited a property owner that has more than 19 acres of woods.
“I am not sure we want to go through and tell people they can’t let nature take its course,” Spagnuolo said. “You can’t just make them cut it down because a neighbor doesn’t like it.”
He added, “It is what it is. Just because your neighbor doesn’t like something doesn’t mean it is wrong.”