Published: July 19, 2008 04:59 pm            

Jeffersonville City Council to consider weed and plant ordinance revisions

A Jeffersonville ordinance that regulates weeds and noxious plants may be up for retooling this week.

The ordinance is on the agenda for the Jeffersonville City Council, which meets at 7:30 p.m. Monday night. There’s also a special council workshop at 6:30 p.m. Both meetings are at Jeffersonville City Hall, 500 Quartermaster Court.

“We’re just refining it,” Jeffersonville City Councilwoman Connie Sellers said of the ordinance.

The new ordinance stipulates that property that’s less than three acres and within 25 feet of residential or public property has to be mowed regularly, she said. Grass and weeds that meet such parameters are not allowed to be taller than 10 inches.

“That’s one of the things we wanted to define a little more,” she said, noting that a recent annexation took in more rural areas.

The Jeffersonville City Council passed an ordinance last year that sought to annex six tracts of land and add about 9,000 people and 7,800 acres to the city limits.

The ordinance on the books, passed in 2007, doesn’t have such a definition. In fact it stipulates that grass, can’t grow in excess of eight inches.

Other agenda items include:

• An ordinance that prohibits basketball goals from being set up on city streets or in the public right-of-way is up for additional consideration after a contested vote on the issue earlier this month.

The ordinance, also being brought forth by Sellers, is a revision of a current city ordinance that addresses the same issue. The ordinance allows the city to remove problem basketball goals, which are set up so the court area is on the street. During the last council meeting, Sellers said she introduced it because she’s heard from numerous residents about the issue.

Councilman Keith Fetz voted against it, saying at the time he favored the current ordinance, in which police officers decide which goals are a problem and which are not.

It’ll need two more readings before it’s made into law. The second reading is expected Monday.

• An ordinance creating a new City Hall Building Advisory Board is also up for its second reading. The ordinance is meant to clean up one that's already on the books.

Right now, there is a City Hall Building Authority responsible for maintaining the building. Councilman Nathan Samuel, introducing the ordinance, said the authority has the power to approve contracts and similar matters without first getting the approval of the city council or the Board of Public Works.

The ordinance expected Monday night would reign in some of that power, in order to avoid future conflicts, he said.

        

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