City targets drying laundry in front yards

BRAMPTON, Ontario, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- A Canadian city northwest of Toronto wants to ban people from hanging laundry to dry in their front yards.

Brampton city councilors first raised the issue last year and asked staff to research front yard clothes drying, the Brampton Guardian reported.

Staff responded by saying it wasn't really a problem as there had been only a smattering of complaints since 2009. Most of them involved people hanging wet clothes on railings and fences.

Staff surveyed 14 other municipalities and found none of them have any bylaws about where laundry is hung, the Guardian said.

Regardless, councilors have asked staff to proceed with drafting legal language to ban the practice.

Councilor John Hutton said residents shouldn't have to see their neighbors' underwear draped over railings and on driveway clotheslines.

"We have a beautiful city and this detracts from the beauty," Hutton said.