Overgrown hedges in Wildwood are creating an eyesore and should be maintained, according to the president of the Wildwood Ratepayers Association.
Bill Bird said when he was growing up in Wildwood, hedges were maintained as a matter of course.
“I built my house up here when Wildwood was a beautiful place to build a home and everybody looked after their yards,” said Bird. “Their hedges, their yards and their gardens were all beautiful and well-kept. Now, it’s starting to look like more of a rundown area of Powell River because of the fact that hedges have gone wild and the houses aren’t being kept up like they used to be.”
Bird said some hedges that have been left to grow have become rows of trees. He said they could still be managed if the trees were cut back to eight or 10 feet and side-dressed.
“They won’t die, they’ll come back,” said Bird. “The tops could be taken off but it is going to take an awful lot of work to do that.”
Bird said it is discouraging for some residents who keep their hedges carefully groomed and have neighbouring hedges that are overgrown.
“They have them looking nice and their property looking nice and right next door is a dumpster; it’s really sad,” said Bird. “For some of these hedges, it’s on the north side of the property and the people on the other side of the hedge are not getting any sunlight in the daytime. Their gardens aren’t growing and their lawns aren’t growing.
“They can’t put their laundry out on their clothesline because they don’t get enough sunshine anymore. It wasn’t like that 10 or 15 years ago.”
Bird said the City of Powell River bylaw has apparently changed so there is no bylaw for how high a hedge is on a property.
“Apparently, the city couldn’t enforce it, so they got rid of it,” said Bird. “We’d like to see it come back again with some teeth so people have to do something with these hedges and forests that are out of control. It would be nice to have something to encourage people to look after their properties.”
Bird said many people in Wildwood love to garden and that is why they bought properties there. Properties are large – sometimes an acre or bigger – and residents could have room for all their gardens, plus animals, according to Bird.
“Many people came from Europe and they all really looked after their homes,” he added. “Because they like gardens, their yards all look very nice. That was their recreation. When they came home from work, they got rid of their frustrations in the backyard.”
Bird said a number of roads in Wildwood are in bad condition and in the summer, grass grows between the sidewalk and the road.
“It just looks depressing and I hate to see it go that way,” said Bird. “If we don’t do something, it’s not going to get any better.”
City deputy corporate officer Jessica Lefort stated in a written response to a Peak question regarding bylaws that hedge height is not regulated by city bylaws.
“On rare occasions, there may be recourse under the property maintenance bylaw, however, it leaves a lot of room for interpretation so it is investigated on a case-by-case basis,” stated Lefort. “I would suggest a complainant go directly through our bylaw office with specific details and then staff can determine if the property in question qualifies for further investigation.”
