(a) It shall be the duty of the owner of any lot, tract or parcel of land adjacent to any street or sidewalk within the City to cause the grass, weeds and foreign growth thereon to be cut at least once each month so that the grass, weeds, and foreign growth does not obtain a height of more than six inches during the months of April, May, June, July, August and September of each year, and at such other times as the Mayor may direct, to prevent such lot, tract or parcel of land from becoming unsightly, unwholesome, offensive or a menace to health or safety.
(b) Public Grass Strips.
(1) All unpaved spaces of ground between the property line on any street or alley, whether opened for traffic or not, or any public place, and the abutting sidewalk and/or street; and all unpaved spaces of ground between any such sidewalk and the curb are declared to be public grass strips and shall be under the immediate control, care and keeping of the owners or occupants of the abutting premises;
(2) Such owners and occupants shall be held responsible for the care and preservation of the premises;
(3) The owner shall sprinkle grass seed or place sod and carefully mow the grass whenever it has attained a height of ten inches and shall, whenever necessary, keep it sprinkled; and they shall see that there is no accumulation of paper, trash, filth or dirt on the premises;
(4) Property owners shall be permitted to plant flowers and shrubs in the public grass strips whenever the width will permit this to be done, and to put up such temporary wire net fencing or other protection as may be approved by the Code Enforcement Officer for the protection of flowers, grass, shrubbery or flower seeds planted in the public strips;
(5) Subject to approval by the Vienna Tree and Beautification Commission, the Code Enforcement Director may also grant permits to abutting property owners to plant trees of approved kind in any of the public grass strips where the strip is sufficiently wide to allow trees and they will not injure the street paving, sidewalks or sewers, but only such trees shall be approved by the director of public grounds shall be so planted; and
(6) No hedges exceeding the limits as set out in Section 1329.02 of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Vienna shall be allowed in any public grass strip; and if any hedge is planted in such strip, it shall always be kept neatly trimmed and vacant spaces replanted by the abutting property owner or occupant. No public grass strip shall be lowered below the grade of the sidewalk, except by permission of the Code Enforcement Officer and the Public Works Director.
(Ord. 10-14. Passed 8-14-14.)