A Regina man is upset with the city after he received notice to cut down plants in a vacant lot that he owns.
Twenty years ago Jim Zinkhan bought the vacant lot beside his home in West Regina. Zinkhan's wife has Alzheimer's disease and he said she enjoys spending time among the plants.
"Where we lived before we had neighbours from hell and so I thought this way I can control whose going to be here,” said Zinkhan. “Then there was so much nice wildflowers and stuff growing here we just let it grow that way."
Zinkhan said he hasn't had many issues with the state of his lot in the past but on Wednesday he received a letter from the City of Regina that said he needs to cut the grass and plants down or he'll be fined and the City will mow the vegetation down.
"They say it’s a new bylaw,” said Zinkhan. “That nothing can grow higher than five inches, even wild flowers, or anything else. If it’s higher than that it needs to be cut off."
On Monday, a City of Regina Bylaw Enforcement Officer came by Zinkhan's lot to display a public notice about the overgrown grass.
"It’s for keeping the neighbourhoods neat and tidy and also you're not disturbing other neighbours with weeds and everything else and its unsightly and untidy," said Darren Steponchev, Acting Manager of Bylaw Enforcement for the City of Regina
The bylaw officer who came by the property wasn't entirely clear on when Zinkhan needs to cut the plants down. One notice reads August 21, while the publically posted notice on the lot reads the 26.
"Basically I fight things that I think aren't right but if the rules are the rule,” he said. “I always follow the rules."
