How High’s a Hefty Hedge?

OCEAN CITY – How high is too high for a privacy hedge? Perhaps more importantly, how to regulate something that keeps growing? 
Ocean City may be about to stop trying.
On Jan. 11, City Council unanimously introduced an ordinance that scraps a four-foot height limit for backyard hedges in the city.
Municipal Attorney Dottie McCrosson told the council that the city wanted clarity from the governing body on enforcement of the current height limit, which is exceeded in numerous properties, particularly in the north end section known as “The Gardens.” 
“This is one of the sections of the ordinance that comes before (Ocean City Zoning Officer) Ken Jones on a regular basis,” she said. “He and I have talked about problems with enforcing the ordinance the way it’s written many, many times over the past eight years.”
Typically, hedges are put in when a house is built, or as part of a landscaping project, and at that time meets the limits. But over time, they grow.
“There is really no mechanism to cause code enforcement to go back to the property and remind people they’re supposed to be limiting their hedges to four feet,” she said. “When we took a look at this recently, there are hedges all over town.”
What’s more, there is no easy way to know if a particular hedge predated the original ordinance, and would therefore be allowed to stay.
The city administration recommended passing the ordinance, but McCrosson said the primary motivation is to get guidance from the council on the question.
City Councilman Keith Hartzell spoke about the ordinance at length but seemed unconvinced.
“So, the purpose of this is, this is difficult to enforce, so in reality, you just grow your hedges as high as you want?” he said.
“It’s been difficult to enforce, and as a result of that, there are healthy hedges, higher than four feet, all over town,” McCrosson said. “So the question is, do you find them acceptable? In that case, we really need to eliminate the height limit, so that all of those hedges are not illegal. Or, if you think the hedges should be limited to four feet, then we should know that the administration should get that message from the council.” 
It’s up to council to decide the city’s policy, McCrosson said.
Hartzell said he had not noticed hedges as a problem. The complaints usually come in as part of an escalation between neighbors, McCrosson said.
Hartzell voted to introduce the ordinance, part of a unanimous vote. That’s only the first step in the ordinance process. Next up is a public hearing and final vote at the Jan. 25 meeting, 7 p.m. in City Hall.
Some residents were skeptical about the change.
At the start of the meeting, resident Mary Hayes described the proposed changes as very confusing and said the ordinance was not ready to move forward.
Another speaker at the end of the meeting said the existing ordinance works, but at the same time said there were some hedges that were about 20 feet tall, which he said could block light and devalue property.
“With this ordinance, it would be 100 percent legal,” he said. “This rewards bad behavior. It makes it legal for somebody to look at their neighbor and say ‘I don’t like you, I’m just going to block you out with a 30-foot wall of green. And I don’t have to look at you anymore.’
“Making that legal is like the city saying if people are speeding around the city at 75 miles an hour, let’s just raise the speed limit to 75. It doesn’t make sense.”
To contact Bill Barlow, email bbarlow@cmcherald.com.