Boulders Along Roads? Darien Forbids It

DARIEN, IL – Darien officials said this week they are cracking down on residents putting boulders on the city's rights of way.

At Monday's City Council meeting, Dan Gombac, Darien's municipal services director, said as many as 75 places in town have boulders in rights of way, which are usually a number of feet from the edge of roads.

The city has received calls about the boulders recently and plans to address the problem throughout town, Gombac said. For years, he said, the city has been relaxed on enforcement of the rule.

But he said the city is now taking a more aggressive approach in having code enforcement let residents know they cannot leave boulders or anything else that is unauthorized in the city's rights of way.

City Administrator Bryon Vana said the boulders are not just for decorative purposes.

"They're there to keep cars from veering off onto the grass," he said. "Really, they're using them as a barricade, a barrier of some type," which he described as "very problematic."

Gombac said public works crews would visit residents with boulders in rights of way and either discard the rocks or move them onto residents' properties if they want them. He said keeping the boulders where they are is a liability.

"There are stories out there, and they are not very pretty stories about people getting impaled," Gombac said.