When Kevin Beasse decided to trim his front lawn one Sunday afternoon, he didn’t expect the fresh-cut grass to come with a hefty price tag.
Beasse says he received a surprise $270 dollar ticket from his city last month for violating a new noise complaint bylaw.
He said he was stunned to learn that Vaudreuil-Dorion, the Montreal suburb where he lives, passed a bylaw in January banning lawn mowing after 4 p.m. on weekends and holidays.
"Nobody knew about this law," Beasse told CTV Montreal.
Beasse’s neighbours were also surprised to hear about the new regulations.
"I was a little stunned about the ticket itself," neighbour Michel Berthiaume said.
Beasse said he had some "choice words" for the public security officer who gave him the ticket, and those words earned him another $148 fine for the outburst.
Frustrated, he contacted his representative at city hall, who said he thought Beasse would have received a warning. The representative promised to look into the issue, but instead, Beasse received a letter from the city saying the fine would stand.
According to the letter, the city felt it had given adequate notice about the new law.
Beasse said he’s still unhappy about the fine, but he doesn’t plan to fight it. He doesn’t deny he cut his grass at 5 p.m., but he thinks the city should have done a better job telling the public about the change of rules.
He’s decided to start a petition to get rid of the law. He also plans to try to raise awareness about it, so others don’t end up paying the price for their fresh-cut lawns.
