City of Toledo wants residents to cut grass or face fines

6/1/2012

Attention weeds, and the people who let them grow to knee-length height in their yards: The City of Toledo is putting you on notice.

The Bell administration wants to streamline how it tackles overgrown grass on properties throughout the city by issuing a blanket notification in area newspapers asking residents to mow their lawns within 5 days.

Those who don’t, and whose grass is 8 inches high or more, could soon see Toledo crews on their property doing the job themselves. Property owners would be fined $75 or more for the convenience, and have to pay the city back for the mowing costs.

“It’s in effect a zero-tolerance policy,” public service director Ed Moore said. “It’s going to allow us to immediately cut the grass. It’s going to increase the response time we have.”

Mr. Moore said the idea is modeled after a similar program in Cleveland.

The Toledo City Council still has to approve the plan and is expected to vote on the legislation Tuesday.