Some time ago I wrote about property maintenance laws when a resident in Somerset County faced fines for planting native plants in a wetland area near a stream because a neighbor complained that it was not a lawn. In the end the resident with the native plants won, but at a cost in time and legal fees.

Now a resident in Avalon is facing the same problem. This resident wants to keep her Virginia Creeper on her property, the town wants to fine her because it is more than 9″ long.

Now, for those who don’t know about this plant…It is a native vine that is great at stabilizing sand dunes…it produces berries that are great food for wildlife. It is not poisonous to the touch even though to the untrained eye it looks a bit like poison ivy. It is not deemed invasive as it is a native plant and well, really, it is quite pretty in the fall with bright red leaves.

Of course, it is not a manicured lawn, thus, it must be outlawed.

Two of our legislators, John Burzichelli and Jon Bramnick proposed a bill to certify wildlife habitat and essentially stop towns from enforcing these archaic property maintenance laws. For some reason, the bills can’t seem to get out of their own way.

It is time to change the law.

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NJ needs to encourage, protect private habit for wildlife