Neighbors Fed Up With Overgrown Weeds, Pests On Land Belonging To Country Club Hills Nursing Home
COUNTRY CLUB HILLS, Ill. (CBS) -- Overgrown weeds are drawing unwanted pests in one Country Club Hills neighborhood, and neighbors there are fed up with what they describe as an ugly jungle.
They say the nursing home that owns the land will not clean it up, so they turned to CBS 2's Tim McNicholas.
Windsor Estates is a beautiful nursing home just off Cicero Avenue. But Tyrone Hutson said the back isn't so pretty.
"These started all out as innocent weeds," Hutson said as he highlighted the overgrowth.
Hutson and his neighbors said they have bene complaining for years about the shameful shrubbery, which borders a stretch of backyards off Summerhill Drive.
"We have issues with rodents, snakes, field mice," Hutson said.
Hutson at least has a fence blocking his yard.
"I have a 4-year-old grandson that can't come out here and play because of the rodents and the snakes that's out here," said Tanisha Williams.
The weeds and the trees are on the property of Windsor Estates. Neighbors said despite their complaints to the nursing home, the mess has grown over the years.
Last month, Hutson said someone cut down some of the shrubbery behind his home, but they left piles of branches behind.
"This has become a jungle," Hutson said, "a forest preserve in a residential neighborhood."
Last week, a crew cleared a couple feet from some of the residents' property lines. But they left a lot behind, including the limbs hanging over Aretha Spurlock's yard.
"The gentleman said, 'Ma'am, I'm sorry, we were just hired by the nursing home and we were told only to cut what we could reach,'" Spurlock said.
And if you ask the residents, it's not just a coincidence.
The city's website said no property owner can have weeds over 8 inches. McNicholas found one that measures at about 5 feet.
"Our neighbors get our lawn cut nicely, professionally," Hutson said. "Why can't the city hold them to do the same?"
So where does all this stand? Good question. The mayor of Country Club Hills said the property does not violate the rules and neighbors cannot expect the land would look like a "golf course" or "country club."
The nursing home said it fulfilled its cleaning obligation, based on what an inspector for the village told them.
But we spoke with that inspector and he said that is not true – as he has not yet returned to inspect the property.