Town of Smithtown proposing ban of Bamboo

We've been talking about it for years here on the Home board, now TOS is aiming to do something about it.

I can't read the whole article but here's some:

Long Island's first townwide ban of new bamboo plantings will go on the books if the Town of Smithtown approves a proposed ordinance to regulate the evergreen.

Though the proposed law would not require removal of existing bamboo, growers would have to keep the plant from spreading within 10 feet of neighboring properties. "You can't get rid of the stuff, so they're going to be made to keep...

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/proposed-ban-aims-to-curb-invasive-bamboo-1.2977365


I don't know how they're going to fine people with new plantings, since they won't know when they planted it. But I'm all for it. Too many people plant it unknowingly, and it's a problem that will pervade for years to come.

Re: Town of Smithtown proposing ban of Bamboo

It's good that people who already have it are "grandfathered" in, and won't be fined. I've been trying everything I can think of (including having my entire yard dug up for construction), and it still keeps growing.....

Re: Town of Smithtown proposing ban of Bamboo

Wow, do that many people plant it there that they have to propose this ban?

Re: Town of Smithtown proposing ban of Bamboo

I can't drive more than five minutes in any direction without seeing it. Once you notice it, you see it everywhere.

I like this not so much because of the people who plant it, but the people around them. I don't have neighbors with it but if I did, why should I have to deal with their error in judgement, you know?

Can anyone post the whole article?

Re: Town of Smithtown proposing ban of Bamboo

I know of one house in Smithtown, on Edgewood, I think, where you can't even see that there's a house there because of all the bamboo.

Re: Town of Smithtown proposing ban of Bamboo

Proposed ban aims to curb invasive bamboo
Published: June 22, 2011 6:38 PM
By CARL MACGOWAN [email protected]

Long Island's first townwide ban of new bamboo plantings will go on the books if the Town of Smithtown approves a proposed ordinance to regulate the evergreen.

Though the proposed law would not require removal of existing bamboo, growers would have to keep the plant from spreading within 10 feet of neighboring properties. "You can't get rid of the stuff, so they're going to be made to keep it off other people's property," said Councilman Robert Creighton, who helped draft the ordinance, which would take effect later this year if approved.

The proposed ban will be the subject of a public hearing Thursday night when the town board meets at the Eugene A. Cannataro Senior Citizen Center on Middle Country Road.

Two Fire Island villages -- Saltaire and Ocean Beach -- restrict or outlaw bamboo. Nationally, bamboo bans are almost unheard of.

Smithtown's law would forbid both varieties of bamboo: "clumping," which is generally easy to manage, and "running," which grows aggressively.

Town officials began considering a ban after residents complained that bamboo planted by neighbors had invaded their yards. One resident who complained, Keith Alletto of Smithtown, said Monday that the town's proposed ban was "a step in the right direction" but did not go far enough.

"I feel that the restriction should be pushed back to at least 40 feet," Alletto said. "This stuff can go underground and pop up within 40 feet."

He said bamboo grown by a neighbor had appeared in the yard of his Oak Avenue home after burrowing underground. Attempts to remove it failed, he said.

Creighton said town public safety officers would enforce the ban. Violators would be ordered to remove the plant and could be fined, though the amounts of fines are not specified in the ordinance, he said. "It will be treated as a property maintenance issue," he said. "If neighbors complain, we'll go take a look at it."

Alletto said he knew other residents who said bamboo grown by neighbors had destroyed brick patios and come up through central air-conditioning units. "We're hoping that a township -- some township -- just comes out and outright bans the stuff," he said.

Re: Town of Smithtown proposing ban of Bamboo

My SIL's neighbor was in Newsday not to long ago because he is suing his neighbor of the bamboo! The one neighbor is suing because the bamboo has grown under the fence and every barrier that he has tried/put down to stop it. The bamboo is destroying all his new landscaping

Re: Town of Smithtown proposing ban of Bamboo

My 4 year old recognizes bamboo and points it out when we drive around.....THAT'S how much there is of it!!

Re: Town of Smithtown proposing ban of Bamboo