Minneapolis homeowners fighting park board after receiving complaint about garden

A pair of residents on Minnehaha Parkway are scratching their heads after the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board handed out a cease and desist letter citing an "unauthorized garden" outside their home.

“I thought it was a prank to wake up in the morning and find a cease and desist letter; it was very surprising to me,” said Remigijus Klyvis, who lives at the property.

Klyvis and Jeff Hagstrom have been growing the garden for years.

But according to the letter, the list of unpermitted violations includes items such as an unauthorized garden, a walking path, a Ferris wheel with lamps, a gate and decorative edging and a 2-foot, 8-inch retaining wall on MPRB land.

“Somebody complained about something, they won’t tell me anything. So, the Ferris wheel or the tree? We find out the whole garden in the boulevard is illegal, and so they want us to restore that to its natural state, which is grass,” Hagstrom said.

Klyvis and Hagstrom said they’ve sent emails to the board with no response. They plan on speaking at the upcoming meeting on Wednesday. They’ve also created an online petition.

“I believe making the boulevard bloom, attracting bees, attracting pollinators, this should be on the agenda for the Park Board,” Klyvis said.

An MPRB spokesperson released a statement to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, which reads, in part:

“MPRB understands that the homeowner’s installations are appreciated by many in the neighborhood. We also understand these installations are well intentioned. We are not asking for their removal because of what they are or contain. The reality is much simpler: under our public policies, any use of Park Board land must be permitted, and that permission can only be granted by the Board of Commissioners. Essentially, people cannot encroach on park land or another person’s land without permission."