NewsChannel 5 On Your Side is getting answers for a frustrated Affton man.
Tom Vogel says a nasty situation is coming from his neighbor's yard and there doesn’t seem to be a solution in sight.
With the county falling short of helping, he contacted Mike Rush.
Not even a 6-foot fence can conceal what's creeping up in this yard.
“Weeds, nothing but weeds, that's all you can see,” said Vogel.
The fence is Vogel’s and the condition of his neighbor's backyard, we'll that's been a sore spot for quite a while.
“Yep, it has been, for a long time,” he said.
Vogel contacted what he calls "Weed Patrol”, the St. Louis County Division of Neighborhood Services, a few times.
The county, who's issued three violations for the property this year, recently they came out to cut.
Vogel said, “I finally got the weeds done, they won't be coming over on my side of the fence.”
But, not so fast. The county only cut the front yard, which wasn't that bad, and left the back.
The house isn't abandoned, so why doesn't the owner take care of it?
“Basically, it is what it is,” said Leroy Hamann, the owner.
Hamann says recent rains, combined with a few days without electricity after a storm caused the weeds and brush, some of which appears 10- to 12-feet high.
Hamann: “Everything that I have to cut the weeds is electric and I lost it for about four or five days and everything went big.”
Rush: “But people might see that and say, you know, that took more than four or five days to get out of control like that.”
Hamann: “Not really.”
Regardless, Hamann says he's actively working finding a company to clear out his backyard.
Until then, here's his message to neighbors.
“If they want, they can come over and help,” he said.
We reached out to St. Louis County to see what it can do.
Believe it or not, a spokesman says, that mess in the backyard does not constitute a violation of the property maintenance code.
But because of our interest, the county is reaching out to the homeowner to offer free resources, like church, student and volunteer groups, to help de-forest his yard.
