When Ignorance of "Noxious" is Obnoxious

Summer is that time of year in Norristown when a code enforcer's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of overgrown lawns and gardens.

Warm weather, as it so often does, came fairly suddenly this year. A month ago, the morning temperatures were still cold. Only the bulb plants were blooming. As soon as the nights heated up a little 2 weeks ago, boom, the grass sprouted up 6 inches practically overnight. The dandelions, ground ivy and other wildflowers all bloomed within a few days. This happens every year; no one should be surprised by it.

That was in mid-May, early in the week. It was also fairly predictable that most of Norristown would mow their lawns the next weekend. This is reasonable--a lot of residents don't get home from work until it's nearly dark, and after a tiring day at work, who has the energy to mow anyway? The homeowners who didn't mow that weekend were mostly landlords who don't visit their properties and had no clue the grass was getting long, and owners who NEVER mow, and seem to never get cited for it.

However, on at least one block on W. Freedley ALL the houses got citations that week. It was as if one of the code enforcers, noticing the longer grass, decided to take advantage of the opportunity to write up citations, without giving any of the homeowners a reasonable amount of time (that is, the weekend) to mow. Frankly, if all the houses on a block are cited, especially if those houses, like the ones on W. Freedley, are normally neatly kept, the problem is with the enforcer, not the homeowners.

Poison ivy 

Furthermore, the citations were all for "noxious weeds." Now, according to the US Bureau of Land Management, a noxious weed is "any plant designated by a Federal, State or county government as injurious to public health, agriculture, recreation, wildlife or property."  Norristown, as far as I've been able to find out, follows the state designations for noxious weeds, which can be found at the USDA website. If you click on the name, you can view photos of what these weeds look like. The only one I've ever seen in my yard is thistle. I've seen the wild multiflora rose in my neighborhood. Cannabis is on the list and there's pretty good odds more than one person in town has it growing, on purpose, somewhere on their property. The rest of the list is unlikely to be found in town, though I'm fairly certain our code enforcers aren't trained in plant recognition.

One homeowner on W. Freedley said that their lawn had been mowed, but the dandelions had sprouted up after and she received a citation. Dandelions aren't noxious weeds. Quite a few people in town use them as a food source. They're also one of the first food plants in spring for honeybees. I could see citing someone who has a mess of dandelions growing out of their sidewalk (not for noxious weeds, but for unkempt property), but in a lawn, code enforcement needs to lay off if the lawn is kept mowed. That goes for other wildflowers, too. I have several on my property that I grow intentionally, like the patch of spearmint next to my back fence. If flowers like buttercups or yarrow or whatever bloom in someone's lawn and the owner chooses to mow around them until the flowers die, I don't see a problem with it as long as the grass is cut.

Ragweed 

There are a few plants I'd suggest Norristown add to its definition of "noxious weeds"--poison ivy, for one. There are places in Norristown where you can't walk down the street because great masses of poison ivy are hanging from fences or trees. That's a public health problem, yet people never seem to get cited for it. Ragweed, too, is all over town (including my backyard). It's not dangerous if you keep it mowed. Maybe only cite people who allow it to bloom. We'd all save on sinus medicine. And if you have kids in your neighborhood, it's a good idea to pull out deadly nightshade vines and pokeweed bushes--the ripe berries are tempting and can make children pretty sick, especially younger ones. If you remove any of the above, DON'T compost the plants or allow them to be mulched. Put them in your regular trash cans so they go far away to a landfill and can't come back to spread their seeds around Norristown.

Deadly nightshade 

Joe Januzelli is the director of our Codes Department. He seems like a nice, reasonable guy. I know when I've contacted him about code issues, he gets back to me fairly soon. I think the main problem isn't him, but a code enforcer or two who are a bit too Type-A-personality sometimes, and who aren't trained in recognizing plants. And of course, on the other side of the coin are all the property owners who don't maintain their lawns, gardens and sidewalks, thereby ruining it for the rest of us who do.

If you get a citation you don't think you deserve, take a photo of the spot that's supposed to be offensive, maybe using a ruler to show the height of your grass or whatever, and email it to JJanuzelli@norristown.org with your explanation. But you can also help him out but taking photos of overgrown properties and email them to him with the addresses.

Pokeberry bush

I would suggest to the Codes Department that code enforcers also carry rulers and take photos with the ruler when citing overgrown lawns. And if longer grass is seen on a lawn of a usually well-kept house, give the owners the weekend to mow it before citing them. If we get a weekend of storms, give them a few extra dry days. If the grass is still too long after that, fine, write them up.

If you've got an elderly or disabled person in your neighborhood who can't seem to keep up with their lawns and weeds, give them a hand if you're physically able to do so. Most of us have small lots and it wouldn't take too long to run your mower over your neighbor's lawn or pull a few weeds out of their sidewalk. Here's a tip: on a hot, sunny day, pour a little vinegar on your sidewalk weeds. The heat of the sun on the vinegar should kill most of them. If not, try reapplying it for a few days.

I think if both the homeowners and Codes Department stay reasonable where property care is concerned, and keep the channels of communication open, citations can be avoided, except to those folks who truly deserve them.

Why Norristown Floods

(AND HOW OUR PLANNING COMMISSION COULD MAKE IT WORSE).
During this morning's storm, 10 inches of water swept along and over the curbs of my street. I assume Elmwood Park flooded--Stony Creek always does in this kind of weather.

Norristown was built on hills, with two creeks--Stony and Saw Mill Run--at the bottom. Much of the hill between the 2 streams is paved and developed. Rainwater is only absorbed by lawns and gardens. So when we get a torrential downpour, much of the rain that falls on that hill drains down the side streets from Dekalb to each creek.

I got to thinking about that proposed development at 1202 Dekalb, where 24 housing units with no yards would replace 2/3 of an acre of grass and trees. I wondered how much rainwater that parcel now absorbed.

I found a formula online: Every 1000 square feet of grass absorbs about 600 gallons per one-inch rainfall. The parcel at 1202 Dekalb is over 29,000 sq. ft. That's about 18,000 gallons of runoff per one-inch of rain.

The storm this morning lasted over 2 hours. I don't know the official measure yet, but I'd guess we had about 2 inches of rain. That means, if the houses at 1202 Dekalb had already been built, 36,000 extra gallons of water would have drained down the hill into one of our creeks. Or into the basements of residences along the way.

Remember the house on Penn St. that collapsed earlier this year? Saw Mill Run goes underground in that area. Before the dam on Fornance was built, East Penn, Main and Lafayette Sts. flooded in every big storm. The houses down there always have basement flooding problems. A wet season was enough to undermine the foundation of one house this time. Keep paving uphill from there, and you'll have more collapses.

Ironically, Norristown's website has a page about Storm Water Management. Here's a quote: "Direct all downspouts away from pervious surfaces and onto lawns." (The word "pervious" is actually not correct here, but we'll assume they mean "nonabsorbent.")  Here's another quote: "Rain Gardens or Grassy Swales: These specially designed gardens can be planted with native vegetation to provide an area for rainwater to collect and soak into the ground. Stormwater from rooftop drains and pavement areas can be directed to these vegetated areas."  Except that, lately, zoning variances are doing away with lawns and vegetation.

And so, another plea for people to show up to the Planning Commission meeting tonight. (Municipal Hall, 7 pm).  If you let the rain keep you away, the next flood could be on your property. Even if you live at the top of the hill, they'll use your tax money to fix the damage.