Annie’s Story

By: Rosina Newton, FOTR Restoration Assistant and Volunteer Coordinator

This is a story about my neighbor, Annie, but it could be about you or any Friend of the Rouge who wants to make a difference in their own corner of our world. 

Annie hired a professional ecological landscaper to install beautiful Michigan native plants in her backyard to solve a flooding problem. It worked! This beautiful meadow now reduces flooding in her yard and her neighbors’ and is a haven for pollinators and birds, as you can imagine.

However, this summer my friend received a citation from the City of Livonia that her vibrant meadow had to be cut down because of the “noxious weed ordinance,” Section 8.40.050. The Livonia ordinance does not recognize the difference between actual noxious weeds, as defined by the Michigan Agriculture Department, and native plants. Many municipal ordinances across the country were written before there was widespread awareness of the benefits of native plant landscaping, and residents are working with their local governments to amend ordinances to allow more ecological landscaping. 

So, Annie’s situation inspired a team of concerned residents to speak at a City Council meeting, some of us for the first time! This team included members of Wild Ones, a nationwide nonprofit organization that advocates and educates about native plants, and two members of Friends of the Rouge, Cyndi Ross and me. 

Our goals were to:

• Inform the Council about Annie’s situation and the need for ordinances to be updated
• Ask the City to change the ordinance to allow and support native, sustainable landscapes &/or send the issue to a committee for further review
• Allow Annie to maintain her native meadow without citation nor threat of mowing from the City.

Six of us presented for three minutes each at the September 23 City Council meeting. You can view the meeting at the link below. Our presentation starts at time mark 9:20.

We were pleasantly surprised that the City Council responded with thoughtful discussion and voted unanimously to move the issue to the Law and Education Committee to be considered further. The next meeting of this committee will be held on December 4 at 7pm in the Livonia City Hall, Council Chambers. Our team is putting together an informational packet to share with the committee and mayor Maureen Miller Brosnan. If you are interested in participating, this meeting is open to the public and you are welcome to attend.

Annie’s Meadow is, as of now, still alive and intact, but is still subject to the current City of Livonia ordinances. This ongoing experience is encouraging to me and “Annie’s Team,” that our voices and actions – and yours – can make a difference. We look forward to continuing this work to promote and expand residents’ ability to provide green stormwater and ecological services in our own yards. Stay tuned!