Chardon Neighborhood Drama has Escalated to Legal Drama

After years of fighting with the city of Chardon about her yard, Kyan Bowman and her mother are each facing 12 misdemeanor charges for zoning violations.

Bowman is known in the area for her four-foot tall plastic dragons and changing signboard that displays uplifting messages, which she says are art displays and features on the Instagram account, @dragonlovelair. She says the community’s response has been largely positive, but that the city and some neighbors are not fans.

“Since [Scene ran a story about Bowman’s situation] I have gotten so many people who have reached out to me — neighbors and everything — who have just said, ‘We can’t believe the city’s been doing this to you, we had no idea. We come by your house all the time, we love what you do.’ So that’s been very supportive. It’s nice to hear all these people say these nice things,” Bowman said.

The charges range from “sign maintenance” to “yard free of high grass, debris and other materials”. Bowman plans to plead not guilty to all charges and says she’s been looking for a lawyer but hasn’t yet retained one.

“They’re saying, for example, that the chicken coop is in disrepair and is deteriorated. The chicken coop is six months old and is not deteriorated or in disrepair,” Bowman said of the charges. “The tarps that I’m killing my grass with, they’re saying ‘that causes soil erosion’. It’s actually the number one recommended way to kill grass without pesticides.”

Bowman bought her house in Chardon in 2018 at a sheriff’s auction. By 2020 neighbors were writing complaints to the city. Chardon previously brought suit against Bowman in 2020, but the case was dismissed.

Her arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday, February 15.

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This article appears in Feb 8-21, 2023.