It can be frustrating to look at a neighbour’s yard full of weeds, especially after you’ve put a lot of effort into beautifying your own property.
This is the predicament some residents of Westview Estates find themselves in, as they look at the field full of Canadian Thistle and Perennial Sow Thistle that has been growing as high as five feet in the subdivision.
“We’re trying to keep our place nice and weed free, then you’ve got something like this,” said Siegmund Sowada, gesturing at the field of weeds next to his property last week.
“It’s just really frustrating.”
The issue of out-of-control weeds on properties falls under two different sets of rules — the Alberta Weed Control Act and the county’s unsightly premises bylaw.
Jacolyn Tigert, the county’s agricultural services supervisor, said county workers patrol the municipality and if they find nuisance weeds they issue a notice to have them cut. If the notice is not adhered to, county crews will go in to remove the weeds.
“The county does have a weed inspection program. We travel every roadside within the county,” she said.
The issue has been especially prevalent this year, she added, because the heavy rainfalls mean the weeds grow particularly quickly.
“We’re getting a huge amount of growth out there,” she said. “Usually one mowing would be sufficient, but this year we’re needing two and we will go in and mow it.”
The second mowing of the year was scheduled to be done last week in the Westview Estates area, she added.
Tigert emphasized the need for county residents to be proactive about weed control, and said they have several programs available to help mitigate the costs for residents.
Tansy in particular is a weed the county helps its residents with through a tansy incentive program.
“We’ve set aside $30,000 for the next three years,” she said. “We’ll go out and take a look at how bad the tansy infestation is, then recommend some herbicides.”
The county will provide rental equipment free of charge for residents to use with the herbicide they buy, then will reimburse half the cost. If the infestation is quite small, the county will simply provide a small spray bottle with herbicide free of charge.
The county also has a program where they will go out and spray for specific weeds that are not normally prevalent: scentless chamomile, toad flax, field scabious and leafy spurge.
“Those are not common in the county, and we want to keep it that way,” she said. “When we see those we’ll go out and spray them free of charge.”
Although the county tries to be proactive about helping residents deal with weeds, there are cases where enforcement has to be done, whether under the Alberta Weed Control Act or the unsightly premises bylaw.
Brian Byrnell, the county peace officer, said while he can enforce the unsightly premises bylaw, the weeds themselves are not within his jurisdiction.
So in a case where a property is overgrown, he can perform some enforcement measures.
“The way we’re doing it is going through all the rural subdivisions twice a summer, and we’re identifying lots that need to be mowed or cleaned up,” he said.
They issue letters to the landowners in question, and give them due notice to clean up their properties. If the property owners don’t clean up, county crews will go in and do the work, then the bill is sent to the property owners.
Given the short season and the size of the county, twice per year is as often as crews can get around to each area.
“I understand peoples’ frustration, but there are 7,500 other residents in the county that need attention. We can’t just go to one subdivision and keep doing it,” he said.
“With the manpower we have, it just can’t be done.”
He added the county is looking at different processes for next year to potentially address these issues in a more timely fashion, but they will still be limited by the fact they’re dealing with private property.
“Under law, we can’t just access peoples’ land to do whatever we want. We have to give notice, and do our due diligence,” Byrnell said.
For more information about the county’s agriculture and enforcement services see www.westlockcounty.com, and to see the provincial weed control act, visit www.agric.gov.ab.ca.
