HomeMy WebLinkAboutITEM V - 2022 No Mow May Report
City Hall, 215 Church Avenue P.O. Box 1130 Oshkosh, WI 54903-1130 920.236.5000 http://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the Common Council
FROM: Mark A. Rohloff
City Manager
DATE: July 21, 2022
RE: No Mow May Report
BACKGROUND
On April 7, 2022 the Common Council of the City of Oshkosh approved designating the month
of May 2022 as No Mow May to encourage an increase in pollinator friendly habitat through
pollinator-friendly lawn-care practices. Residents who participated in the program were
required to register with the Planning Services Division which allowed staff to continue code
enforcement on non-participating homes. Staff were directed to not issue correction notices for
long grass and weed violations for registered properties.
ANALYSIS
655 properties were registered with Planning Services Division to participate in No Mow May.
Around 50 properties were outside of the City but the owners elected to still sign up on the city’s
webpage. In 2021, there was no sign up required so the city did not issue any grass violations
during May of 2021. In the chart below, the May and June cases and violations from 2020-2022
are shown with May 2021 showing zero cases and violations because they weren’t tracked.
Cases are counted when city staff receives a complaint about a potential violation which results
in a staff person doing an inspection to confirm if it is a violation or not. A violation is counted
when an actual municipal code violation is found. As you see below, there are typically more
cases than violations because not all complaints result in an actual violation, but it still takes
staff time to inspect the complaint and document it.
Seven business days after the initial violation notice is sent out, a follow up inspection is
completed by a city staff person to see if the violation was corrected. In June 2021, there were
167 follow up inspections and in June 2022, there were 323 follow up inspections from violation
notices sent out in May and June 2022. This results in staff time to complete the inspection and
process the proper documentation. 9 of the properties on the Now Mow May List received a
violation notice for not cutting their grass by June 6th.
City Hall, 215 Church Avenue P.O. Box 1130 Oshkosh, WI 54903-1130 920.236.5000 http://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us
If the violation wasn’t corrected after the follow up inspection, the property address was sent to
the Streets Division who mows the properties and charges the owner.
2020- 45 properties sent to Streets
2021- 43 properties sent to Streets
2022- 66 properties sent to Streets
In June 2022, the 66 properties that were sent to Streets were categorized into the following:
47% Rentals
17% Other
10% Abandoned or Foreclosed Homes
26% Owner-Occupied
4 of the 66 properties that were cut by Streets had registered for the No Mow May program.
Overall, the majority of the property owners that signed up for No Mow May cut their grass by
June 6th when staff started to process complaints and complete inspections. However, there
continues to be a misunderstanding with the requirement to sign up your property on the No
Mow May list to participate. City staff worked with dozens of property owners who said they
were participating in No Mow May when they received a violation notice, but had not signed
up. Staff will continue to look for solutions to improve the program should it be renewed for
May 2023.
Please contact me if you have any questions concerning the No Mow May report.
Respectfully Submitted,
Mark A. Rohloff
City Manager
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2020 2021 2022
May and June Cases and Violations 2020-2022
May Cases May Violations June Cases June Violations