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87 UMKC L. Rev. 435 (2018-2019)
Let It Grow: Freeing the Lawn from Aesthetically Rigid and Environmentally Damaging Real Covenants

handle is hein.journals/umkc87 and id is 453 raw text is: LET IT GROW: FREEING THE LAWN FROM AESTHETICALLY RIGID AND ENVIRONMENTALLY DAMAGING REAL COVENANTS Courtney Ruby* I. INTRODUCTION The perfect lawn is deeply Ingrained in American culture. Emerald green grasses, freshly mown and heavy with water droplets, are found in memories, quotations, media, and art. A pristine lawn is a status symbol-one that America has embraced.' Occupying 63,248 square miles of land-a total area three times larger than the surface of irrigated corn-turf grass is the single largest irrigated crop in the United States.2 Lawns also account for five percent of air pollution in America, contribute to soil and water pollution through improper fertilization, and demand enormous water usage.3 Despite these costs, homeowner associations, relying on contractual real covenants, harass homeowners' free use and enjoyment of their private property in the name of property values, assailing them with fines, lawsuits, and court-ordered injunctions. In extreme cases, homeowners can be held in contempt of court and jailed, all because their private yards do not match community guidelines. In the United States, property rights are praised and protected. Yet, when a conflict occurs between private property rights and real covenants, the courts typically enforce the contractual agreement.7 To protect property rights in the face of real covenants, state or federal government must provide an overriding law.' Such laws already exist in arid states, where they are designed to protect *J.D. University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, May 2018, with emphasis in Urban, Land Use, and Environmental Law. I would like to thank my mother, for without her constant support I would not be on the path I am today. 1 Elaine Schwartz, How Your Lawn is About More Than Grass, ECONLIFE (Aug. 24, 2015), http://econlife.com/2015/08/the-lawn-as-a-status-symbol/. 2 See CRISTINA MILESI ET AL., INT'L SOCIETY FOR PHOTOGRAMMETRY & REMOTE SENSING, A STRATEGY FOR MAPPING AND MODELING THE ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF US LAWNS, at 1-6 (2005), http://www.isprs.org/proceedings/XXXVI/8-W27/milesi.pdf; Cristina Milesi et al., Mapping and Modeling the Biogeochemical Cycling of Turf Grasses in the US, 36 ENVIRON. MGMT. 426 (2005). 3 See Rebecca Barton & Susan Barton, Turf Grass Madness: Reasons to Reduce the Lawn in Your Landscape, U. DEL., http://extension.udel.edu/factsheets/turf-grass-madness-reasons-to-reduce-the- lawn-in-your-landscape/ (last modified Mar. 10, 2010). 4 See generally Justin Lewis, Restrictive Covenants: What Are They And Why Should You Care?, WARD & SMITH (Oct. 10, 2012), http://www.wardandsmith.com/articles/restrictive-covenants-what- are-they-and-why-should-you-care. See Jodie Tillman, Brown Lawn Means Jail Time, ST. PETERSBURG TIMES (Oct. 11, 2008), http://www.ccfj.net/HOAFLJailbrownlawn.html. 6 See Tom DeWeese, Private Property Rights Defined, AM. POL'Y CTR. (Nov. 7, 2012, 3:27 PM), http://americanpolicy.org/2012/11/07/private-property-rights-defined/. See, e.g.,Vernon Twp. Volunteer Fire Dep't, Inc. v. Connor, 855 A.2d 873, 879 (Pa. 2004) (in a quiet title action seeking to invalidate a restrictive covenant, the court sided with property owners and upheld a restrictive covenant prohibiting alcohol sales). 'See Andrea J. Boyack, Common Interest Community Covenants and the Freedom of Contract Myth, 22 J.L. & POL'Y 767, 769-70 (2014).

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