Holding Court is a column by retired Rye City Court Judge Joe Latwin. Latwin retired from the court in December 2022 after thirteen years of service to the City. Latwin appeared on Episode 8 of Season 1 of our podcast MyRye.com Conversations with Doug French. Listen to learn more about Latwin and the Rye City Courts.
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Shrubbery
A reader writes that he/she finds it annoying when people’s bushes/shrubs impede the ability to proceed on sidewalks. It becomes difficult when a property owner lets vegetation grow wildly and asks for my comments.
The major issue here is not the laws, but common courtesy. A considerate person would knock on the door on the property and ask nicely that the owner trim back the vegetation so as not to inconvenience the public. A considerate owner would comply without the intervention of the government. “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” – James Madison’s Federalist No. 51 (1788).
Under the rules of the Knights of Ni (Monty Python and the Holy Grail), one is obligated to bring the Knights shrubbery as the price to pass. Even if you bring shrubbery, you must bring more shrubbery and place it beside the initially brought shrubbery, but only “slightly higher so you get the two-level effect with a little path running down the middle.” As far as my research shows, the Knight of Ni lack any law-making authority in Rye and they are lousy at sword fighting.
Sometimes people are unaware that many sidewalks are on the adjacent property owner’s property – not on City property. The ownership of the sidewalk by the owner precludes a charge of trespassing by the invasion of vegetation. It is axiomatic that you can’t trespass on your own property. The City Code’s requirement for maintaining sidewalks is mostly removal of snow and ice.
New York State Property and Maintenance Code section 302.3 requires all sidewalks be maintained free from hazardous conditions. The question is how shrubbery can be hazardous. Section 302.4 requires all premises and exterior property be maintained free from weeds or plant growth in excess of 10 inches (254 mm). “Weeds” is defined as grasses, annual plants and vegetation other than trees or shrubs. If the owner of a property doesn’t cut and destroy weeds after service of a notice of violation, they may be subject to prosecution for a misdemeanor. Upon failure to comply with the notice of violation, an employee of the jurisdiction or contractor is authorized to enter upon the property in violation and cut and destroy the weeds growing thereon, and the costs of the removal shall be paid by the owner or agent responsible for the property. When I was the Village Prosecutor in Port Chester, I actually handled prosecution under the State Property Maintenance Code of a property that was overgrown with uncut grass and was a refuge for rodents. The Village sent in its DPW to mow the weeds and billed the property owner for the costs.
Rye does have a law limiting bushes and trees on corners. Rye City Code § 90-13 says “no . . . planting of bushes or trees shall be maintained, or shall be allowed to remain, on any lot within 25 feet of any street corner intersection, measured in any direction by the shortest distance to the nearest corner, at a height in excess of three feet above curb level or so as to interfere with the visibility of vehicle traffic across the corner. I am familiar with one instance of enforcement of this provision. There were trees planted on the corner of Maple Avenue and Locust Avenue that prevented seeing traffic around the corner.
The Knights of Ni had a remedy for unwanted shrubbery. When you have found the shrubbery, you must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest… with… a herring! Unfortunately, if you cut down a tree on another’s property (whether with a herring or a saw), you can be held for triple the damages caused and may have criminal exposure.
