Irwin committee advances weed-ordinance changes to allow native gardens, sends amendments to legal

The City of Irwin Building and Zoning Committee voted to amend a proposed update to the municipal weed and landscaping ordinance to better accommodate native gardens and to forward the amended draft to the city legal department for formal drafting.

Alderman Caldwell, who submitted the draft to the committee, said the changes are intended to modernize the ordinance by removing a long local list of prohibited plants and deferring species classifications to the state ‘‘so we won’t have to keep updating this ordinance’’ and can ‘‘stay up to date’’ with invasive-species determinations. Caldwell said the draft would also allow taller vegetation in designated managed landscape areas while retaining controls to prevent nuisance or safety conditions.

Residents who spoke during the open forum urged stronger preamble language and protections for native species. John Dely thanked the committee and recommended adding language from the Wild Ones sample ordinance to the preamble, saying that native plants ‘‘help achieve water conservation goals, preserve habitat in urban areas, reduce landscaping maintenance costs and protect property values.’’

Martha Chipless, who identified herself in the public comment period and referenced the West Cook Wild Ones chapter, noted that a 2018 state law prohibits classifying native milkweed as a noxious weed (effective June 1, 2018) and urged the committee to reflect that legal context in the ordinance. ‘‘You can see there are a good number of Berwyn residents who are formally committed to growing native plants,’’ Chipless said, offering to share a map of local participation.

Philip Secus, speaking as a board member of a Wild Ones chapter, described ecological benefits of native landscaping, saying its deeper root systems ‘‘allow much more rain [to be] absorbed into a property and not flow down into our overworked sewers’’ and noted that many native gardeners use few or no chemicals.

Committee members and staff asked for clearer definitions in the draft, particularly of ‘‘nuisance condition’’ and ‘‘managed landscape,’’ and raised operational concerns such as sight-line safety at street corners, alley access, and how Public Works frontage standards would interact with the new rules. Eric, representing the light department, asked for specifics so inspectors could apply the ordinance consistently.

Some members floated a voluntary registration or signage program to identify managed native gardens and to help code inspectors distinguish intentional, maintained native plantings from neglected lots. The committee discussed but did not require a mandatory pest-control program; members said pest issues should be addressed if and when they are documented rather than imposed preemptively.

Alderman F. moved to amend the draft to add a nuisance-condition definition and a registration mechanism and to send the amended draft to the legal department for formal drafting. A second was recorded (the seconding speaker was not named in the transcript), and the motion passed unanimously in the meeting record.

The committee did not adopt final ordinance language at the meeting; members directed staff to incorporate the suggested definitions and registration approach and asked that the legal department prepare a formal draft for consideration by the full council in a future session.