Wayne may stiffen rules on keeping bamboo
Ordinance would step up enforcement
By: Philip DeVencentis
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
WAYNE - Officials are considering a new ordinance with strict critics for keeping bamboo after fielding complaints about its explosive spread in neighborhoods.
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The hard-to-control plant is notorious for growing at an extreme rate. Under the right conditions, some species can shoot up by as much as 3 feet in a single day.
..... New plantings of bamboo, kudzu vine and multiflora rose have been prohibited her for 10 years, but the proposed ordinance, up for adoption by the Township Council on November 6, [2024] expands the list of banned-vegetation to include Japanese knotweed and tree of heaven, also known as Ailanthus altisisima.
..... In addition, the proposal would require standards for those plants that already exist. It calls for residents to maintain a buffer of 5 feet from a pubic right of way and 10 feet from an abutting property.
..... Councilman Richard Jasterzbski who sponsored the measure, said the updated criteria would make it easier for the township code enforcer to impose penalties. "It can literally devalue your land," he said of bamboo. "One person's problem spreads to another person's property."
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The proposed ordinance sets the minimum fine for violators at $250, not including the cost to abate the issue or to remove the invasive plant entirely.
..... Bamboo regulations are common in North Jersey as towns try to balance local zoning and rights to privacy. Hawthorne and Mahwah are among the municipalities that have enacted laws in recent years, and Lincoln Park took action just last month. [09/2024]
Its ordinance also stemmed from complaints
..... The Wayne proposal states that existing bamboo hedges can be no taller than 6 feet. Homeowners can pot their plants, but the containers must be at least one-sixteenth of an inch thick and made out of corrugated metal or heavy-duty plastic.
..... A separate section of the proposed ordinance lays out new rules for storage of firewood.
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Under the proposal, residents would be banned from permanently leaving stack of wood in their front years. Log piles can be kept there temporarily, but only if they are no taller than 6 feet.