Jason and Jennifer Helvengston are residents of College Park, a section of Orlando, Florida. This area is close to downtown and popular among the working age citizens, of which the majority are homeowners. But, if you are a homeowner, do you have the right to do whatever you want on your land?
No, according to College Park officials.
See, Jason and Jennifer decided to set up a 25 x 25 foot micro-irrigated vegetable garden in their front yard. City code says your yard has to look “finished” and kept clean to keep property values up. Therefore, officials told Jason he must dig up his garden.
Jason isn’t going down without a fight. He has said, “You’ll take my house before you take my vegetable garden,” calling it a “sustainable plot of land.”
Jason has instigated the “Plant a Seed, Change a Law” protest. He’s collected 200 signatures from those that support his right to have a garden in his front yard and plans to present it to the code board in December.
Not only do neighbors support Jason’s front yard garden, they don’t mind him having chickens in the backyard, which is allowed by code. It is believed that it was an out-of-town landlord in the neighborhood that complained about the garden.
In defense of the City of Orlando, they have backed down off the threat to fine the Helvengston’s $500 a day for having the garden and said they are working with the couple and the landlord that complained to come to a resolution.
The city’s sustainable director, Jonathan Ippel, said the city has “reached out to the community, talked to landscape architects” and is now looking into how other cities are handling urban gardens.”
What would you do if you woke up tomorrow and your neighbor was digging up the front yard? Are flowers and trees okay, but tomato and radish ants off limits for the front yard?