Magistrate orders added screening to hide boat after owner and city disagree on whether plants must be permanent

Charlie Weiss, the owner of 6010 Martin Avenue, told the special magistrate that temporary potted plants and existing vegetation together already obscure his boat from public view and that the municipal code does not explicitly require permanent plantings. “Nowhere in there did it say that it needed to be permanent,” Weiss said.

City landscape planner Megan Beshant (Beshotte) and supervisor Kevin Levine testified that the intent of the code is for planted screening — hedges or similar plantings — not portable pots, and that the screening should be robust enough that a boat is not visible from the adjacent right of way. Beshant said potted planters are not adequate as a general standard because they can be moved and would permit intermittent non‑screening.

Magistrate Amity Barnard reviewed the ordinance language read into the record and agreed that the written code does not explicitly require permanent planting, but she concluded that the remedy in this case is direct and practical: Weiss must add plantings so that when an inspector stands in the public right of way the boat cannot be seen. The magistrate gave Weiss 60 days to achieve the required screening or face a $50‑per‑day fine thereafter.

Barnard advised city staff that if the city’s enforcement intent is to require permanent plantings, that requirement should be added to the code so future disputes are resolved by ordinance language rather than staff interpretation.

The magistrate entered the city’s composite evidence into the record and directed Weiss to request a reinspection once the additional plantings are in place.