Prairie problems

Illinois is nicknamed the “Prairie State,” but the city of Springfield didn’t want Wolfgang Arterberry to have an actual prairie as his front yard.

“Overgrown grass and weeds throughout entire property must be mowed,” reads a letter dated July 9 to Arterberry and his wife, Gina, from Dalton Kinison, a housing inspector with the city. “The above-referenced violation must be removed or abated by July 16. Failure to remove or abate the violation by the date set forth herein may result in a referral to Administrative Court and assessment of a fine against you in the amount of not less than $150.”

Arterberry stood in his front yard Aug. 4 and told an Illinois Times reporter he had yet to hear more from the city. For the 38-year-old native of Edinburg, the absence of any reply from the city to his vigorous responses seemed to be more galling than the letter itself.

“Every native plant from Illinois, I planted here. I love Illinois,” said Arterberry, who works as a compliance officer for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. “I’m backed up by a law in Illinois to be able to do this. I would not be (acting) to garner attention to it if the city was not attempting to destroy the front yard portion without due process or legal standing.”

On Aug. 13, Illinois Times published a print version of this article that said Arterberry had yet to receive responses to any of his latest emails to Kinison and the city. In fact, Arterberry had received communication from Kinison in July on at least two separate occasions, including in response to Arterberry’s offer to relocate some of the taller plants to the back of the property. But Arterberry said they were unrelated to what he most wanted to hear about – a request for an extension to the deadline to be in compliance with what, in his view, was a faulty request in the first place. Soon after the print article went to press, Arterberry received an email from Kinison saying he was now in compliance and the matter was resolved.

“I take responsibility for not making that point clear and for misspeaking any time I said they never responded to my emails. I only meant to convey Dalton did not respond to the substance of my emails as it relates to my requests for their evidence showing my property in violation, and that they never responded to my final email before or after the deadline, leaving me to wait for a fine or a landscaping company to show up to destroy it and I get billed later,” Arterberry told Illinois Times.

According to the Illinois Homeowners’ Landscaping Act of 2024, homeowner associations are barred from placing comprehensive bans on homeowners from “planting Illinois-native species on private residential lawns.” Arterberry, who lives on Churchill Road, is in the Jefferson Park subdivision on Springfield’s west side.

That didn’t stop two letters of complaint from neighbors of Arterberry in the last two years, which by law are made anonymous to the public – and to Arterberry himself. After the first letter of complaint, nearly two years ago, the city sent a notice of violation but did nothing to follow up. Arterberry thought that would be the end of the situation, until he received the July 9 letter.

Arterberry can understand why some neighbors might, at first glance, think his is a neglected, overgrown front yard. But that is far from the case. He said he spends a vast majority of his free time tending to the yard and the rest of his one-acre property. He said he has 70 species of native plants growing and uses a deer fence to protect the yard so the prairie can go to seed and serve as stock for his adjacent acre of land.

“My property serves as a watershed collection point for our neighborhood so I wanted to do what I could to mitigate that while providing for the native wildlife that live here,” Arterberry said. “We have deer, turkey, fox, coyote, owl, hawk, and many more native Illinois wildlife that live on my property in Springfield. Dozens of wild bird species nest and raise young here. We have an ephemeral pond, upland prairie, lowland prairie, and timbered and open wetland. It is a perfect microcosm of Illinois native potential.”

Arterberry and his wife bought the house in 2020. Growing up on a family farm, he got his love for all things botanical from his parents, but especially his grandfather in Carbondale, who he said won many ribbons for his massive flowers, vegetables and fruit at the DuQuoin State Fair. Along with all the flowers and plants, Arterberry also grows food on his prairie lawn, such as berries, eggplant, cucumber, corn, pumpkin, peppers and tomatoes.

In the winter, he does a lot of woodworking and removing invasive bush honeysuckle around the property.

Now, he can go about his business without the threat of fines or an unexpected mow from the city – which is often what happens when property owners neglect notices of violation. The maximum length for grasses on residential property is 10 inches.

Arterberry said after he received the first violation notice from the city two years ago, he called and spoke with a woman at Public Works.

 “She apologized and said they do this to see who’s the lazy folk who let their lawn grow without mowing, who do it intentionally,” Arterberry said. “She offered to have someone come over and look at everything and let me help them learn why this is done the way it is. They never followed up, but they did leave me alone for two years.

“When I got this last letter, I tried to get ahold of (Kinison), but got the same woman again from the city – I don’t remember her name – but she said the pictures she had were of just weeds, and that they had to be mowed.”

Arterberry hopes his experience will be a learning lesson for the city and future complaints about perfectly legal prairie yards.

“Evidence wise, that was a situation that could have gone on indefinitely or ended negatively for me without (Illinois Times’) or another entity’s intervention. I can’t be the only person who is getting these letters,” Arterberry said.