Charlotte mayor promises city will act on environmentalist push to amend yard rules
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- Vegetation is restricted to 1 foot under Charlotte ordinances.
- A group of citizens want to exempt native plant gardens from height restrictions
- Mayor Vi Lyles pledged to change the city’s vegetation ordinance
More front yards could grow wild under a suggested amendment to Charlotte ordinances.
Mayor Vi Lyles told dozens of environmental advocates at a City Council meeting on Monday that the city would act on a change the activists have been pushing for months to exempt naturalistic gardens from vegetation height restrictions. Under current city ordinances, residents can face penalty fees worth hundreds of dollars if vegetation on their property grows taller than 1 foot. The rule is intended to maintain sanitation and aesthetic standards for city homes.
Some residents who purposefully cultivate naturalistic gardens, which use native plants and involve less maintenance than typical grass lawns, say they’ve been subject to penalty fees for using a gardening approach that’s better for the environment. Native plant gardens tend to grow taller than the ordinance allows.
“Let’s go ahead and do this ordinance and get it changed,” Lyles said following a series of public comments on the issue. “I don’t know who’s gonna do all this work, but somebody’s gonna make it possible.”
Advocates have been showing up to council meetings since August as an organized group they call the “Coalition to Protect our Urban Nature in Charlotte.” Representatives from the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, NC Native Plant Society, Charlotte Mecklenburg League of Women’s Voters and other groups came together over the summer to form the single-issue coalition.
The mayor’s promise was a surprising development for some supporters. Kay Day had attended two previous meetings, which she said resulted in the same outcome: city officials said somebody would take a look at it but remained noncommittal on a change.
“Now, it’s like, we’re gonna do it. I’m just thrilled. Thrilled,” Day said. “It is incredible though, isn’t it?”
The city already has a process where citizens can register their naturalistic landscapes for protection. Registered properties are not subject to code violations if maintained, the city previously said in a written response to The Charlotte Observer.
The coalition argues that isn’t good enough.
Alden Picard is the North Carolina Wildlife Federation’s conservation coordinator who spearheaded the coalition. He said codifying the protections under an amended ordinance would clarify rules for citizens and send a clear message about the city’s values, among other benefits.
City staff have been communicating with him about planned improvements to the registration system, Picard said. He wasn’t sure whether the city would stop short of an amendment until Lyles spoke up Monday night.
“I don’t want them to settle for less. We want the system to change,” Picard said.
Lyles’ statement followed comments from a local father, Ed Murray, who shared the ways his young daughter has benefited from having over a hundred native species of plants in their front yard. She sees the food web in action every day with local species of birds and bugs that are drawn to the native plants, he said.
“Your daughter is really, really, I think, getting something that we all hope that all of the kids in this community has,” Lyles said. “The way that you framed it just made it impossible to walk by, so let’s go ahead and get it done.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2025 at 10:35 AM.
