‘Frustration at the ultimate level’: Riverside couple to uproot landscaping following 50 complaints from one resident

Disappointment lingers over the property of a Riverside couple that was told to remove landscaping from their front lawn after a resident complained that it doesn’t conform to the city’s public right-of-way encroachment bylaws.

On May 3, John and Beverley Holmes were paid a visit from the city with a notice to remove the landscaping from the city’s right of way, or bring it into compliance before May 31.

The couple hired a landscaping company to bring the garden up to code, but were later informed by a registered letter from the city that issues still remained.

“Frustration at the ultimate level,” stated John Holmes.

“We took what we thought was the appropriate approach, which is the landscaping company to deal with it, and we don’t know what else to do.”

The couple arranged for an in-person meeting with by-law enforcement officials on Thursday to learn directly what actions need to take place to be in accordance with the bylaw, noting they already paid nearly $1,000 for the updated landscape work.

“We’ve had so many people come to us and knock on our door about our yard, people we don’t even know,” said John. “They’re saying we apologize to you. They’re apologizing on behalf of the City of Windsor because it shouldn’t be happening.”

“The city should not allow one single person to make a complaint and just upheave a person’s life,” Beverley said.

Following their meeting with bylaw staff, the Holmes said they still had the option to keep the garden by applying for an encroachment permit at a cost of $899 and then conforming to the city’s best practices, which includes keeping the garden at ground level, leaving a one-foot strip of grass along the curb and limiting the height of bushes to three feet.

The couple had the one-foot strip of grass installed following the initial complaint, and are now reluctantly opting to remove the garden completely.

“It’s disappointing. We’re disappointed. We’re just tired,” John said.

Beverley continued, “We could be nasty. There are people that are not in compliance according to what the city has just done to us. But what am I going to gain out of that? I don’t want to put anybody through what we’ve gone through.”

Right of Way and Field Services Coordinator for the City of Windsor, Andrew Lewis, said, “If you’re going to undertake beautification of the right of way in the City of Windsor, please refer to our best practice for landscaping in the right-of-way. It’s available on the City of Windsor’s website.”

So far this year, there have been 79 complaints filed concerning landscaping in the right-of-way, according to city officials.

There was a total of 171 complaints made in 2023.

According to several residents on Thompson Boulevard, 50 complaints were filed in the area by one individual two years ago.

“A lot of landscaping was removed that was actually very beautiful,” said Charles Hillier. “I found it rather odd that they would entertain 50 complaints from a single individual.”

Hillier said he can sympathize with the Holmes, telling CTV News the issue remains top of mind in his neighbourhood, hoping amendments can be made to the bylaw to prevent one individual from making dozens of complaints at one time.

“Some individual, 50 complaints in a two block radius, and the city said if there’s a complaint, we have to address it,” he said.

“They probably should have just lost the phone call and said, thank you for your concern, or told that individual simply to move because they are that unhappy.”