Baltimore city touts itself as "cleaner and greener" these days. But you couldn't convince Maxine Taylor of that. The Butcher's Hill resident was cited last year for a code violation for having a driveway and parking pad made out of wood chips.

This happens as city officials are starting to chip away at the asphalt and concrete that blankets much of Baltimore.  Letting more rain soak into the ground would keep it from washing trash and pollution off the streets into the harbor and the streams that feed into it.

The city's Sustainability Plan calls for enlisting residents in that fight. But the city's housing and zoning codes haven't caught up with the plan, still specifying that driveways and off-street parking must be "dustless" asphalt, brick, concrete or stone block.

City officials say they're in the process of updating the codes to promote sustainability. In the meantime, though, unless someone decides she merits a waiver, Maxine Taylor will either have to keep parking on the street or pave her little patch of paradise. 

Officials have pointed out it's legal under the current codes to just put down strips of pavement or pavers to accommodate the tire tracks of all the vehicles she wants to keep at her house.  That's better than having to pave it all, but still an expense and awkward-looking if you intend to park vehicles side by side.  And no one's explained to her yet what's so wrong, practically speaking, about a wood-chip driveway. They're allowed, even encouraged, in some municipalities.

You can read about it here in The Baltimore Sun.

(Baltimore Sun photo by Amy Davis)