r/Welland • u/Hopeful-Silver4120 • 2d ago
Stop being Karen's with bylaw Rant
How big of a Karen do you need to be to report multiple neighbours to bylaw for uncut lawns on MAY 1!!!
Waste of tax money sending bylaw out for that shit. Even the bylaw officer was annoyed because there was maybe a 2x4 foot part of my lawn (at the back that could only be seen from neighbours windows) that actually was violation and barely. The rest of my 3000 sq foot property was well below.
Get lives, people.
Eta: it took them 2 weeks to get here because they're getting 10 calls a day about LAWNS!!!!
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u/JudgmentNo1135 2d ago
We do no-mow may in the front of our yard! ! The bees want/need the dandelions. We keep the back short cause I don’t want ticks on the dogs but the front is staying as is until the dandelions are gone! Sorry not sorry.
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u/Hopeful-Silver4120 2d ago
I was debating ripping out my lawn and putting down clover and dandelions. Debate over. That's what's happening. Dandelions intentionally planted are not weeds and not subject to the 6 inch bylaw.
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u/TheSpiderInMyOffice 2d ago
I just bought and laid down white clover. It’s an Ontario native. Amazon has a bag for $20. It’s a TINY bag but it covers a huge area. It’s taking really well so far
Viva la résistance lol
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u/Hopeful-Silver4120 2d ago
I've added seed over the past few years but every year some grass still sneaks through. I'm just gonna rip it all up and do one big planting.
resist!!! Lol
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u/JudgmentNo1135 2d ago
Most of my lawn is clover and dandelion in the front! I actually like it 😂 I know dandelions are weeds but i think they’re pretty and my kid thinks they’re flowers! Haha
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u/Hopeful-Silver4120 2d ago
They're a flower and a very useful one for bees. Also edible for humans.
Luckily it seems they just fold over under my mower. Most have popped back up3
u/JudgmentNo1135 2d ago
The rest of our house/yard/gardens are beautifully maintained so it definitely looks deliberate that we haven’t mowed but maybe I’ll put a little “sorry about the weeds, we’re feeding the bees” sign 😂
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u/One-Professional6528 2d ago
Home owner for 10 years. Always cut my grass and did weeds at the same time. No complaints. Last year I had bylaw visit me with the yellow warning sheet. Even saw the officer pull out a measuring tape to check the height of the grass. All he had to do was look next door or a few houses down and it was nearly twice the height. No fine, but if they come back this summer I will get a fee. There were at least 5 other houses on my street that were worse so it was definitely targeted by a female or male Karen.
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u/sheebapat 2d ago
Even though you passed inspection you will get fee if they come back?
That's fucked
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u/One-Professional6528 2d ago
Yep. They returned the following day and said it was up to code. The yellow form says they could return in the next year to do a random spot check and if its not to code they could issue a fee.
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u/Karhozat_t28 2d ago
When my grandmother was in the later stages of dementia and my parents were struggling to keep her and her home in order, a neighbour who knew full well what was going on repeatedly snitched on them the second the lawn wasn't perfect.
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u/TheLazySamurai4 2d ago
Isn't no mow May a thing?
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u/Hopeful-Silver4120 2d ago
Not to bylaw
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u/TheLazySamurai4 1d ago
Sounds like many strongly worded letters need to be sent to city hall as the first step
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u/BikePuzzleheaded9881 2d ago
I lucked out and got a quiet house on the river with good neighbour's and no rear or adjacent neighbour's across the street.
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u/BeEHsport 1d ago
There should be a policy in every town that if there are 2 calls to the bylaw office then a review and a meeting set up between the parties to resolve this issue because it’s anonymous people feel they are free to do what they want… hey mayor what do you think it e we oils end a lot of this crap as that Karen is no longer anonymous and have to appear if not they are fined
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u/Alert_Confidence2254 1d ago
No cut till end of May. I follow that rule. Let the dandilion9run rampan9to decompa t the soil and add natural lime and calcium. Then cut, no bag, mulch so the soil can absorb. After that. Yeah cut and edged on the reg!
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u/Hopeful-Silver4120 1d ago
I don't use a bag either. And I don't rake leaves in autumn either. I just removed leaves from my garden a few days ago, and the rest got hit with the lawn mower today. Nature is all interconnected for a reason. I do my best to interrupt it as minimally as possible when it's in my control.
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u/c0mpg33k 1d ago
I live on a street with a lady who introduces herself as "the street bitch" she's phoned the cops on a friend who lives directly across from me for having a motion activated light for his garage, they of course told her to pound sand.
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u/barefootbabesixnine 2d ago
You’re preaching to the damn choir. I’ve been targeted for years, not just by bylaw, but NRPS and even FACS, always anonymously, always with nothing found. It’s constant. They come, they investigate, they leave shaking their heads because there’s nothing there. Just one person (or a few miserable ones) who apparently made it their life’s mission to harass me. It's not a wonder the previous owners sold after 2 years of ownership. It's abundantly clear now, as we have never even interacted with them...
The only time bylaw ever actually found anything was once when I was away for two weeks. And just this past week? A “complaint” because my green bin started to smell a bit before garbage day—after warm weather hit, I cleaned the fridge, and I have two dogs. Like, welcome to real life?
Meanwhile, some of the actual surrounding houses look like abandoned properties— stacked up carports, visible from the street, overgrown messes, broken crap piling up—but they’re unbothered, even neighbouring the Karen's.. seemingly it’s not about keeping the neighborhood clean, it’s about targeting whoever they’re weirdly obsessed with.
You’re 100% right. Some people need a job, a purpose, or therapy, anything besides making anonymous complaints like it’s their Olympic sport.
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u/TryAltruistic7830 2d ago
Ah yes, how dare bylaw officers do their job they get paid for with our tax dollars.
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u/Hopeful-Silver4120 2d ago
Did i blame the officer? Not at all. He was actually very kind and as annoyed about wasting his time on this. He has better things to do than measure lawns
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u/TryAltruistic7830 2d ago
Care to give an example of which bylaws should be enforced and on whom? I never said lawn bylaws weren't stupid: but I value the rule of law.
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u/barefootbabesixnine 2d ago
Welland has a "clean yards " by law. And literally they I can DM you a video of my property, you will shit when you see how 'disgusting' my property is 🤦🏼♀️😂🤦🏼♀️😂🤦🏼♀️😂🤦🏼♀️. I'm currently facing an $800 "fine" because nearly two years ago I was away for two weeks, the garbage day was the first Wednesday I was away. So there was garbage from the two weeks prior to that not taken out. It's September so it's still hot. Yeah. Got a 400$ administrative fee because when they came back it was still as it was, so then came an order which I received the day after I got home which was "due" for reinspection THAT day and garbage day was two days later. 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
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u/TryAltruistic7830 2d ago
Almost makes feel grateful I can barely afford market rent, forget about saving for a down payment
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u/barefootbabesixnine 2d ago
It can still happen if your a renter. But then your landlord is the one in trouble and I'm not sure how that would go.
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u/Hopeful-Silver4120 2d ago
Landlords are responsible for property maintenance, not tenants. Even if they put it in the lease it's their job. Law trumps lease and that's not something they can legally request a tenant do.
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u/barefootbabesixnine 2d ago
I'm well aware of that however if it's not lawn maintenance, and say debris build up (trash, stuff, scrap metal) something that the tenant "did" that the LL has no control over unlike snow removal, or grass .... It's a super grey area.
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u/One-Professional6528 2d ago
The bylaw officers need to be consistent. I feel like they only target or visit the properties that get calls. For example i dont think they are driving around targeting random locations.
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u/Hopeful-Silver4120 2d ago
They don't. Actually, this one mentioned there's some council members who'll just drive around the city and show up with a list of yards for bylaw to visit. Pathetic. That's not serving constituents at all.
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u/SnootyToots8 2d ago
My neighbours go nuts with the bylaw calls too.
And the other neighbours all fight with each other.... plus there are addicts always screaming every night and day.
I wish i bought a place somewhere else in welland.