After receiving over 20 letters from concerned residents and hearing from seven people in council chambers on Tuesday night, Tantramar council has let a proposed vegetation by-law die on the vine.
Residents shared concerns about potential loss of habitat and biodiversity, as well as stormwater management, should the standards laid out in the proposed by-law be enforced.
“Lawn maintenance by-laws are notorious for preventing good people from making positive choices to have less intensively managed yards,” said resident Sean Blaney, “and these bylaws are prone to being misused in neighbour disputes that are not really related to vegetation.”
Hear this story as reported on Tantramar Report:
The by-law originated with a request back in September from then-councillor and now deputy mayor Matt Estabrooks. At the time, Estabrooks told council the by-law was needed in response to concerns he had heard from residents about possible fire hazards of long, dried grass near buildings, issues with long grass providing habitat for rodents, and the effect of unkept lawns on neighbouring property values. Council passed the motion unanimously.
But when assistant clerk Becky Goodwin brought the requested bylaw to council for consideration at a committee of the whole meeting on January 27, some councillors expressed concerns. And then they started to hear from residents. Mayor Andrew Black says he received over 20 letters on the topic, and seven people showed up Tuesday evening to address council in person.
By the time Estabrooks moved to accept first reading of the by-law at a meeting on February 4, no councillors were willing to second the motion. And so the by-law will not proceed to further consideration by council.
Estabrooks declined to comment after the meeting, but councillors Greg Martin and Mike Tower were on hand to explain their lack of support.
“I’m a country boy,” said Martin, who was elected in Ward 5, and lives in Mount Whatley, near Aulac. “I just feel that if you drove through my ward, you would notice that a lot of people have very nice lawns, but behind their houses is a place for the wildlife and the butterflies. And I just I couldn’t see a by-law that would really stop people from enjoying their properties the way that they feel they should.”
Tower says he felt the bylaw was too vague, and that he felt his own property could be found in violation of some of the standards listed. “We were going down a rabbit hole we shouldn’t have gone,” said Tower.
Richard Elliot is one of the residents who rallied others to speak out against the proposed bylaw, and himself told council Tuesday that the bylaw was “unnecessary” and suggested that Estabrooks’ concerns could be addressed “through more targeted and less Draconian measures.”
After the meeting Elliot said he wasn’t all that surprised by the result, “because I think this council was really listening.”
“It was very heartening that there were so many people that came out to speak up about this,” said Barb Clayton, who spoke in her role as chair of EOS Eco-Energy. Clayton pointed out the by-law did not “reflect proper use of the climate lens” and said its implementation would see the municipality “moving farther away from its climate goals.”
Clayton said it was heartening to hear from so many scientists with expertise on biodiversity and wildlife. “As a person who’s not a scientist myself, but works on environmental issues, I just feel like it’s really great that those people spent their spare time to come out and speak up about this. It’s just really great to be in a community with so many people that care.”
