NORTH MANKATO — A majority of North Mankato City Council members appear inclined to remove limits on how much of a resident’s lawn can be put into natural, native plantings.
The city in 2021 passed a “managed natural yard” ordinance” that allows people to have up to 30% of the non-pervious portion of their yard converted to a managed native planting area, along with setbacks from their property lines.
But last year the state Legislature passed a law that requires cities to allow residents in all communities to have native landscapes.
At a council workshop Monday night city staff and council members discussed whether the state law requires any change to the local ordinance.
City Attorney Chris Kennedy said he believes the city has a right to further regulate native landscapes through size and setback restrictions because the Legislature did not specifically address a city’s ability to do so or not. He said that, in general, cities can have rules more restrictive than state laws, just not more lenient.
But he and city staff said it was up to the council to decide if they wanted to change the ordinance.
Mayor Scott Carlson and council members Sandra Oachs and Matt Peterson indicated they’re leaning toward removing the restriction that natural plantings can only cover 30% of the yard.
Peterson noted that in lower North Mankato, which features smaller yards, the city’s current ordinance doesn’t leave people much room to grow native plants. And he said there seems to be too many details in the current ordinance, which opens it up to legal challenges.
“I think we have too much in (the ordinance).”
Oachs said she favors following the state law to allow people to plant native yards without putting restrictions on the amount of yard to be converted. But she and Peterson and Carlson said it would make sense to have some reasonable setback from a neighbors yard — maybe a lawn mower’s width — so that native plantings don’t migrate into a neighbor’s yard.
Carlson said he is currently converting some of his yard to native plantings and said it will save water usage and help pollinators.
While he said he could support easing the current ordinance, he did worry about what happens if someone grows a natural yard but then is unable to properly maintain it, perhaps because of health issues. City staff said that there would still be city ordinances in place that don’t allow for noxious weeds or allow traditional lawns to grow wild.
Councilman Jim Whitlock said he is fine with the city’s current ordinance but said he wasn’t opposed to “tweaking it.”
Councilman Billy Steiner was not at the meeting.
Since the state law was passed, residents have been challenging the validity of city ordinance.
The city sought information from other cities regarding any change of stance they had because of the new state legislation.
Rochester staff said their city has an ordinance allowing residents to apply for a permit to install native landscapes. They are currently drafting a new ordinance to “comply” with the new legislation that will only require permits for native landscapes within boulevards/public right‐of‐way spaces.
Belle Plaine has an ordinance similar to North Mankato’s, regulating the size and placement of native landscapes. Belle Plaine said their city attorney also said their ordinance could remain in place.
The city of Bloomington is in the process of amending their ordinance to remove size and other restrictions, but not because of new
legislation. The city believed their ordinance wasn’t working and needed changes.
Eden Prairie currently restricts the size and setbacks for native landscapes.