51ºÚÁÏ

It’s a 1991 Pontiac Bonneville that usually sits in the driveway of the home she shares with her mother, Marlene, on Appalachian Trail.

Linker doesn’t drive the car much these days, but she has no plans to get rid of it.

“Anybody who has ever had one of these keeps them forever,� Linker says. “I love my car.�

Linker’s parents moved into the two-story house in the Shenandoah subdivision in 1978. The homeowners’ association, let alone the city of Chesterfield, didn’t exist at the time. But in the past few years, both the HOA and the city have become a thorn in the Linkers’ side.

For years, Lucy says, somebody has been complaining about the car. She parked it on the road, under the shade of a tree, for a while. Then she moved it to the driveway.

In June, the city cited her for a “nuisance violation� for the second time in two years. Officials pointed to the car’s constant presence in the driveway, grass that was too long and clutter on the front porch.

“Anytime somebody drives by and doesn’t like something, they call the police, and somebody comes out to harass the residents,� Linker says. “Out here in Chesterfield, the idea that there is (an old car) sitting in our driveway is offensive to people.�

Linker’s complaints are like many I hear from people who live in municipalities that often cite residents for nuisances or HOAs that raise issues.

I’ve run into a few of those — the city of Wildwood trying to stop residents from installing solar panels, or an HOA in Ballwin hassling a woman for teaching girls to pitch a softball in her parents’ backyard.

One person’s clutter is another person’s trash.

Linker, who has flowers and hanging baskets in the front yard, keeps most of her materials on the porch so she doesn’t have to constantly carry mulch and soil around the house. The hydrangeas in front of the porch are her “pride and joy.� She also plants double petunias, crested celosias and rainbow coleus, among other flowers in hanging baskets.

As documented in city records or just by driving by the house, yes, there are usually boxes, tarps or other materials on the front porch. Sometimes they’re tucked in the corner, other times they’re spread about.

“It’s really none of their business,� Linker says. “We want to be left alone.�

The city disagrees. Last year, it charged Linker’s mom with a nuisance, and she was found guilty and charged a $250 fine. This year, after the second nuisance citation, Linker and her mom hired a lawyer, who has sent a letter contesting the charges.

He included a note from the company the Linkers pay to cut the grass. In the spring, when the Linkers were cited, the company was behind after a week of steady rain.

The letter from attorney Chris Hoell also points out that the ordinance in question requires a nuisance to be a “danger to the health, safety or welfare of the public.� That’s not the case here, he argues.

The car is licensed, insured and operable, even if Linker doesn’t drive it much.

“The ongoing scrutiny … appears to form a pattern of arbitrary enforcement and selective prosecution … with subjective aesthetic preferences that go beyond any reasonable interpretation of applicable code provisions or HOA rules,� Hoell wrote.

Chesterfield city attorney Chris Graville said that in most instances of property abatement, cases are dropped if homeowners clean things up. “We want to work with property owners to bring their property into compliance with the codes,� Graville said. The Linkers’ court date is in August.

The photos in the city’s code enforcement file tell a story. In April, the porch was full of planting materials, as well as roof shingles that had blown off during the spring storms that damaged many houses. That particular picture struck a chord with me. My house was damaged in the same storm. I had discarded shingles in the corner of my front porch for three months.

By June, a return inspection of the Linker house yielded a photo of a front porch surrounded by blooming flowers.

“We are getting into very subjective waters here,� a city inspector wrote in the file. “We are all aware of that.�

That’s Linker’s point exactly. She and her mom may not live exactly the way their neighbors do. But why is it the neighbors’ business that she keeps her car in the driveway or how many planters she keeps on the porch?

“I want people to know that when you do this, you are stealing from your neighbor. You are stealing their time, you are stealing from their mental state, you are stealing their money, over your subjective aesthetic preferences,� Linker says. “There’s clutter on the porch, but there’s a whole lot of flowers, too.�