ROSEVILLE, Mich. (WXYZ) — A Roseville family is seeking answers after dealing with overgrown vegetation, hazardous trees, and poison ivy, they say, is spreading into their yard from an adjacent city-owned property.
Watch Peter Maxwell's video report:
Katelyn and Rick Alexander moved to their home in 2020. For nearly five years, they have complained to the city about the city-owned property next door.
"All I am asking is for them to take care of the problem that they started," Katelyn Alexander said.
The couple said the thick brush and poison ivy have been creeping into their yard for the last three years.
"Two of my family members got poison ivy just last summer because of all of this creeping over," Katelyn Alexander said.
"I've gotten it myself three years in a row," Rick Alexander said.
The Alexanders said city officials have previously visited the property and promised to resolve the issue.
"Multiple people from the city told me it was theirs," Rick Alexander said.
"I've had city workers come out saying, 'Yeah, that's our side, we'll take care of it,'" Katelyn Alexander said.
"They've come out here themselves, different people from the city, and looked at it and said, 'Oh yeah, we're going to take care of this, you're on the list. We'll come and take care of it,' and they never have," Rick Alexander said.
Feeling like their concerns fell through the cracks, Rick Alexander installed a sign in his front yard on Sunday to get the city's attention. The family also posted photos on social media from the previous summer showing the overgrown vegetation.
"The sign's obnoxious, and I hate to put it in my front yard, but I didn't have any other way to get their attention," Rick Alexander said.
To get answers and a hopeful resolution, I took the family's concerns to City Hall and spoke with Roseville Assistant City Manager Glenn Sexton. I learned that a property line dispute may be the reason for the delay.
"It's a little more complicated than the post on social media or the sign on the street. The property line does come at an odd angle where I can see there would be some confusion as to exactly where that property line is," Sexton said.
Sexton said the city will be taking a closer look at the property line to determine who is responsible for the overgrown brush.
"Our department of public services director has been communicating with them and has committed to working with them in clearing up this issue, and we will absolutely take care of anything that is on our property," Sexton said.
Rick Alexander said if the brush is on his property, he will take care of it, but he wishes he had known earlier, so it would not have been an issue.
"Now it's a property line dispute, which it never was. I would have taken it down if they said it was my responsibility," Rick Alexander said.
"I just wish that the city of Roseville would hold themselves to the same standard that they hold their residents," Katelyn Alexander said.
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