A proposed by-law on lawn naturalization in Prince Edward County is close, but isn’t quite there yet.
At Committee of the Whole on Thursday, council indicated it’s in favour of changing cultivated landscapes like lawns, into more natural landscapes but did make several motions for changes to the by-law as presented by staff.
In a deputation earlier in the meeting, Prof. Nina-Marie E. Lister, of the School of Urban + Regional Planning and the Director of the Ecological Design Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University, noted that of the 14 municipalities’ updated and draft by-laws that were recently reviewed and advised through her lab, PEC’s proposed by-law is one of the better examples.Â
Some of the motions council made involved language changes like altering the wording of the by-law from “allowing” naturalized lawns to “supporting” which was one of Lister’s suggestions to improve the by-law.
Others motions involved directing staff to get more information.
As is, the by-law only applies to private property but council asked staff to explore adding public lands as well.
That may result in cost implications to remove invasive species from County land.
The proposed by-law also calls for Glossy Buckthorn, Himalayan Balsam, Japanese Knotweed and Phragmites to be defined as local weeds and their growth prohibited.
In her deputation, Lister asked council to consider instead aligning the prohibited plant list with the provincial list.
Committee directed staff to explore that possibility as well as working with the Environmental Advisory Committee to develop training and communication initiatives on lawn naturalization.
Staff will bring back information to a future meeting.
