Alexandrea Duarte and Shawn Richardson have grown tomatoes, peppers and herbs in their front yard in Acworth, Georgia, for nearly two years, and since Sept. 28 their homeowners association has fined the household $25 for every day the garden stays. By the time Atlanta News First reported the dispute on Oct. 22, the total had neared $750. The couple answered with a Halloween banner styled as a tombstone, and the fines have kept running while a state complaint sits with the Georgia Secretary of State.
A Garden That Went Unchallenged for Nearly Two Years
The beds in question are trough-style planters along the front of the house. According to Atlanta News First, they hold peppers, tomatoes and herbs, and some of the troughs have been in place for close to two years. Duarte says the backyard does not get enough sun for vegetables, which is why the front lawn became the family’s main growing space. The household describes the garden as a way to stretch a tight grocery budget and to teach the children to grow food, and the station noted that some of the children have dietary needs.
Neighbors have long swapped notes on what a quiet street should look like, and neighborhood life has changed a great deal since the milkman and paperboy days. Front-yard rules are one of the places where those shifting habits collide, and the social norms people argue should be dropped often start with how a home is expected to look from the curb.
How a Cucumber Trellis Turned Into a Daily Fine
The association’s written rules do not mention gardens at all, according to Atlanta News First. They instead let the board decide what is “obnoxious or unsightly to the eye.” A June notice told the family, “Please remove garden from front lawn,” and the HOA president said the board had received four complaints from separate people.
The Cool Down, in a report carried by Yahoo News on Oct. 29, added that a cucumber trellis was among the objections. Duarte took the trellis down and proposed design changes, but the fines continued. On Oct. 2, the management company, CMA, told her the fines would run until every bed was gone, even after she offered to remove the newer beds and paint or surround the older ones. Asked what exactly was unsightly, a CMA manager answered, “All of it.” Reporters could not locate a published fine schedule that sets a $25 daily penalty…