Oak Park Drops Case Over Front-Yard Garden
OAK PARK (AP) - A Detroit suburb has dropped its case against a woman who was cited for violating rules about landscaping with her front-yard vegetable garden.
Julie Bass was cited last month for violating an ordinance in Oak Park that requires grass, ground cover, shrubbery or other "suitable live plant material."
Bass and her husband, Jason Bass, put in raised garden beds after digging up the yard to replace a sewer pipe. She said she called the city planning department to check whether a vegetable garden would be OK, and said she thought it would be allowed as decorative.
City Prosecutor Eugene Lumberg tells WJBK-TV, The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press the case was dropped after he reviewed the case. City officials fielded phone calls, threats and emails about the citation, but Lumberg says that wasn't a factor in this week's move.
Bass' lawyer Solomon Radner says they're pleased with the decision.
The misdemeanor carries the possibility of 93 days in jail, but Oak Park's mayor had said Bass wouldn't have faced jail time.
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