Miami Shores Couple Challenges Front Yard Garden Ban

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MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) — A Miami Shores couple is scheduled to go before a judge on Monday to challenge a ban on front-yard vegetable gardens.

For 17 years Hermine Ricketts and husband Tom Carroll grew vegetables in their front yard. But May, 2013, Miami Shores' Code Enforcement officers informed the couple that they were breaking the law by having a vegetable garden in front of their home.

Ricketts and Carroll dug up the garden after finding out having it was punishable by fines of $50 per day.

The couple couple decided to fight back. The Institute for Justice filed a suit on their behalf.

The couple's lawyers say the ordinance violates their property rights. The couple is hoping to get a judge's ruling that the village's zoning ordinance which prohibits such gardens is unconstitutional.

Last year a judge refused to dismiss the lawsuit.

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