ARLINGTON, Va.— Last month, Broward County zoning officials withdrew a citation they issued to Leann Barber for her community garden that she runs for low-income kids in the neighborhood. Broward County’s reversal comes after the Institute for Justice (IJ) sent a letter to county officials on behalf of Leann Barber, warning them that citing Leann for planting a garden on her own private property likely violated state law. 

“Imagine after eight years of building, planting 500 fruit trees, vegetables, and native plants, being told by code enforcement that your use was unpermitted, and it should be bulldozed. It was soul-destroying,” Leann said. “Fortunately, this threat has finally passed, and I can feel a sense of relief at last.” 

“It’s gratifying that Broward County has ended its senseless campaign to eradicate Leann’s garden, though it should not have taken a letter from a lawyer for the county to finally stand down,” said IJ Senior Attorney Ari Bargil. “The state of Florida provides explicit protections for property owners like Leann, who want to use their property peacefully and productively. And thankfully for all Floridians, those protections override abusive local zoning codes.” 

Leann bought the property in 2017 to help Broward County youth through her non-profit organization, Made in Broward. While visiting her property, children learn about food preservation and how to sew, garden, cook, and make soap. The goal behind this work is to help prepare kids to be positive, contributing citizens. However, Broward County issued a citation to Leann last fall because she was gardening on a vacant lot—which officials considered to be a code violation. 

In its letter to county officials, IJ explained that Leann’s use of her property was protected by Florida’s Vegetable Garden Protection Act, which expressly states, “a county, municipality, or other political subdivision of this state may not regulate vegetable gardens on residential properties.” In issuing Leann’s citation, the county was relying on an incorrect interpretation of this state law.  The County incorrectly was interpreting the law to protect only gardens that were on a property that also had a residence.  But as the Institute for Justice explained, the law applies regardless of whether the lot has a residence. Even if not for the law, Broward County’s ban would be unconstitutional under both the U.S. Constitution and the Florida Constitution. People have a right to use their own private property to have a community garden. 

IJ has a long history of defending homeowners against code enforcement abuses. As part of that work, IJ represented Hermine Ricketts and Tom Carroll in a lawsuit challenging Miami Shores’ ban on front-yard vegetable gardens. In the wake of that case, IJ led a campaign to pass a statewide reform protecting Floridians’ right to grow food on their residential property. That protection later became known as the Vegetable Garden Protection Act.