MIAMI (AP) — A South Florida couple has lost a lawsuit seeking to overturn a town’s ban on front-yard vegetable gardens.
A Miami-Dade County judge on Thursday upheld a Miami Shores zoning ordinance prohibiting such gardens. Hermine Rickets and Tom Carroll had challenged the ordinance as an unconstitutional violation of their property rights.
Attorneys for the couple say they used the front-yard garden to grow vegetables for 17 years. They dug up the garden after Miami Shores officials said it violated an ordinance adopted in 2013 and was punishable by fines of $50 per day.
Circuit Judge Monica Gordo ruled that Miami Shores has a legitimate government purpose in promoting the town’s aesthetics and that the ordinance is not arbitrary.
The couple’s lawyers say they plan to appeal.
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