I am excited to be part of a growing movement of citizens to reverse the environmentally
destructive sic e-effects of the American obsession with manicured lawns and landscapes. While
there are a number of books and scientific articles that treat these issues at length, it is good to
know the federal and state government have also begun to legislate action around these issues.
It is time for the city of New London to get serious about not only allowing ecological
landscaping, but to become an active participant in cultivating its green infrastructure. The
founding principles of this movement are articulated in a handful of government publications that
should interes: this committee.

in the Septem Jer 1989 issue of Connecticut Environment: The Citizen?s Bulletin of the
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, Carl Rettenmeyer of the Connecticut
State Museurr of Natural History wrote an article called, Few Beautiful Reasons Not to Cut
the Grass.? In his article, Rettenmeyer outlines why we should stop mowing our lawns and start
?preserving our native species so our children and grandchildren" might enjoy them. The first
step, he says, ?is to leave growing things where we find them." He goes on to make a few more
points worth rrentioning. ?True appreciation for our native plants can best occur by education
and exposure. Unless we know what to look for and where to look, most of our wild plants will
never be recognizable." This is precisely the problem with the New London ordinance. 
blanket definition of weeds that must be destroyed contradicts everything we have learned over
the last several decades about the importance of cultivating an ecological landscape.

Jump ahead 25 years and you can read A Citizen?s Guide to Creating Pollinator Habitat in
Connecticut. the guide created by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in response
to An Act Concerning Pollinator Health (Public Act 16-17) enacted by the Connecticut state
legislature in 2016. The act followed directly on the heels of the pollinator health concerns
sketched out in the 2016 Major Issues facing the state of Connecticut by the Office of Legislative
Research in January 2016, itself a response to the 2014 Presidential memorandum on pollinator
health.The state-commissioned citizen?s guide identifies. gardeners as one of the groups of
people who can help cultivate pollinator habitat. pointing out that "it is generally easier to protect
the pollinator habitat you already have than to establish new habitat.?

The citizen's guide also points out that we are fortunate to have gardeners who are interested in
cultivating native pollinator habitat; that ?gardens are an important resource for many
pollinators.? Ard while the USDA estimates that pollinators perform an ecological service that is
valued at $200 billion each year in America, the Connecticut citizen's guide states "that gardens
have even more value for pollinators and other wildlife when diverse native plants are
deliberately ch Dean to fit into the local ecosystem."

I look forward to the opportunity to present additional information about my garden to the code
enforcement committee.
Sincerely, -

Magmm

City of New London, Building Division
Attention: Kirk Kripas, Building Official

111 Union Street
New London CT 06320

REF: 286 Montauk Avenue

July 31, 2017

OF NEW 


This letter is a request for a hearing to appeal a notice of violation of Section: 302.4
issued by Kenyon Haye (July 12, 2017') to ?Trim down all plant overgrowth on property to ten

inches or less."

302.4 states ?Weeds shall be defined as all grasses, annual plants and vegetation.
other than trees or shrubs provided; however, this term shall not include cultivated flowers and

gardens."

I object to the Jnclear blanket classification of weeds and plant overgrowth, just as I will argue in
my defense that this ordinance does not apply to my property because it is a cultivated garden.

Since moving to the property in November 2015, have cultivated my garden rather extensively
for the beginnhg phase of a long-term, multi-year project to create an ecological landscape. The
goals for my garden include letting naturalized plants grow, removing exotic invasives, planting
native plants, promoting pollinator health, minimizing water consumption and storm water runoff,
reducing fossil fuel usage, and not using chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Weeds that am removing from my garden include:

Herbaceous:
Annual sowthistle
Black swallowwort
Broadleaf plantain
Buckhorn plantain
Carpetweed
Chicory

Common lambsqualters
Fall dandelion
Greater celandine
Hairy bittercress
Horseweed
Mugwort
Orchardgrass
Pale smartweed

Polteweed

Prickly lettuce
Rabbitfoot clover
Shepherd?s purse
Yellow Toadflax

Wow

Japanese barberry

Japanese maple (seedlings)

Japanese yew (full grown shrubs)
Norway maple (seedlings, mature trees)
Oriental bittersweet

Poison ivy

Sycamore maple