NORTH MANKATO — North Mankato has tweaked its relatively new natural landscape ordinance to ease some restrictions and bring it into compliance with a new state law.
“I’d like to thank the City Council for revising the natural yard ordinance so it’s in compliance with state law,” said resident Tom Hagen during a public hearing Monday night.
Resident Barb Church said the additional easing of rules allowing for people to leave their yards in a natural state is welcomed by many.
“I think there’s a whole bunch of people who would like to thank you. It’s been a long time coming,” Church said.
After many months of discussions, debates and rewrites, the City Council unanimously passed a natural yards ordinance in early 2021.
The ordinance allowed residents to have up to 30% of the non-pervious portion of their yard converted to a managed native planting area, or pollinator garden. The natural areas need to be maintained and contain no noxious weeds that go to seed, among other requirements. No permit is needed and city staff have said they don’t actively look for issues but respond if complaints are made.
The changes made Monday in the local ordinance allows residents more leeway in making more of their yard natural, other than some restrictions on what can be done close to their property lines with neighbors.
The changes approved in a 3-0 vote Monday aligns with a state law passed last year that requires cities to allow more pollinator gardens and natural yards. One of the changes is that grass can grow to at least 8 inches high rather than the 6 inches in the city’s ordinance.
Lawn rules across Minnesota changed last summer when a new law passed by the Minnesota Legislature kicked in, saying cities can no longer ban pollinator-friendly native landscaping. The new law requires cities to allow homeowners to install and maintain a “managed natural landscape,” which it defines as “a planned, intentional, and maintained planting of native or nonnative grasses, wildflowers, forbs, ferns, shrubs, or trees.”
But the law does not allow people to simply let their traditional grass grow long or be filled with noxious weeds.
The law explicitly states that “turf-grass lawns left unattended” are excluded from the definition of a “managed natural landscape.”
North Mankato’s original ordinance was debated and approved after the city, under previous City Administrator John Harrenstein, went after resident Edward Borchardt for having an overgrown yard.
Borchardt successfully sued the city after it declared his natural yard a “public nuisance” and said it contained “rank growth of vegetation.”
Hagen said the city’s action this week to allow more leeway in how people manage their yards was a big step forward.
“The problematic actions and ordinance of the previous administration caused this state law (to be passed) in the first place,” Hagen said.