No 'Pretty Police,' Just Guidelines For Front-Yard Gardens

Despite the fact that her yard is buried under mounds of snow, Dora Lyakhovetsky has spring on her mind.

“I’m optimistic,” she said. “Spring is coming.”

Lyakhovetsky had reason to be optimistic earlier this week, when Northbrook’s board of trustees announced guidelines permitting front-yard gardens like hers.

The plot Lyakhovetsky maintains in front of her house on Shannon Road became a point of controversy last summer, when neighbors complained about its appearance. A code enforcement officer sent a letter in July, demanding that the garden be removed by Nov. 1, saying it did not conform to code. But after further research, village staff determined that Northbrook's municipal code does not specifically address—or, for that matter, prohibit—front-yard fruit or vegetable gardens.

Northbrook’s board of trustees discussed the matter for several months, garnering accusations of being the “pretty police,” before to create official guidelines.

“The board supports gardens, but we also want to make sure that they don’t fall into disrepair and create a nuisance,” explained Development and Planning Services Director Tom Poupard.

During more than six months worth of discussion in committee and at village board meetings, Lyakhovetsky’s garden came to represent more than simply a matter of public policy. Supporters and detractors showed up regularly at meetings to voice their opinions.

Some, like Lyakhovetsky’s neighbor, Jack Handley, criticized the garden’s appearance.

“The fence is sort of uneven, the rows of planting don't appear to be even and if I lived across the street I might really object to it,” Handley said at a meeting in late September.

But supporters Nancy and Lee Goodman said it was a matter of freedom, particularly for Lyakhovetsky, a Jewish refugee from the Soviet Union.

“This issue started out for us as a question of whether or not Northbrook residents should be able to grow vegetables in their front yards, but it's about a lot more than that," Goodman said in September. "Private property, neighborhood relations and to some even a freedom issue."

With input from Northbrook’s Environmental Quality Commission, citizens and trustees, the verdict is finally in. Front-yard gardens are okay, so long as they do not generate drainage or erosion issues and create problems like mud or icing on nearby sidewalks. Gardeners must also comply with village restrictions on fence height as well as prohibitions against electric or barbed wire fences.

Poupard explained that the guidelines do not reflect any changes to the municipal code—village staff simply reviewed and compiled the relevant ordinances in a document that can be passed out to residents.

“Nothing needs to be changed, no ordinances need to be changed,” said Trustee Kathryn Ciesla, who chairs the communications and legislation committee. “This would be a guide to residents going forward.”

Guidelines and permission in hand, Lyakhovetsky left Tuesday’s board meeting happy.

“That’s what everything’s about,” she said. “To get my garden.”