Mayor Vetoes Edison Council's Vote To Rescind Bamboo Rules

EDISON, NJ — Mayor Sam Joshi has vetoed the Township Council's decision to rescind an ordinance regulating bamboo, an invasive species that has drawn dozens of resident complaints over property damage.

The council voted to rescind Ordinance 2284-2026 at its Sept. 9 meeting after failing to agree on amendments to the measure, which was unanimously adopted in March 2025. The ordinance allows residents to keep preexisting bamboo on their property but prohibits new plantings, encroachment and spread onto neighboring properties.

During a work session ahead of the vote, council members voiced differing views on the ordinance's future.

Councilman Asaf Shmuel said the township continues to field numerous bamboo-related complaints. "We spoke about bamboo for many, many hours here, and clearly it's an issue in our township — our township gets too many complaints about bamboo in general," he said. "At this point, I don't feel comfortable rescinding anything. I would look at amending this ordinance rather than rescinding it at this moment. I'm not going to be supporting this change."

Councilman Ajay Patil said the council had spent more than 20 hours discussing the ordinance since its introduction and identified gaps in how it addressed issues such as grandfathering existing bamboo and enforcement on private property. He said residents had also asked that other invasive species, including poison ivy, be added to the ordinance. "The intent is not to completely rescind this ordinance — the intent is to update it. But given the number of summonses and the runaround happening in court, it's in the best interest of the township to save some money on litigation and give some relief to residents," Patil said.

Councilman Richard Brescher said he supported pausing the ordinance while the township's attorneys draft revised language. "We recognize this ordinance was a problem, I don't think it was created properly," Brescher said. "I was hoping our attorneys could come up with a better way to have this implemented, and I think they will, given time. Typically, when we find something doesn't work, we rescind it until legal comes back with something that's enforceable. I do support not getting rid of it, really changing it, but until we get that, put the brakes on it so we don't have 300 residents here talking about bamboo."

Council President Joe Coyle pushed back, arguing that most complaints stemmed from a small number of residents rather than widespread opposition. "For those who have pre-existing bamboo that grows into a neighbor's yard, all we're asking is to dig a trench two feet around the perimeter and cut the roots," Coyle said. "I have to slightly correct Councilman Brescher. We haven't had 300 complaints; we've had about five people come here, and two to four of them are the ones really driving this." Coyle said he would support revisiting the ordinance if colleagues wanted to add other invasive species like poison ivy.

In his Sept. 15 veto statement, Joshi criticized Brescher and Patil directly. "This is another example of Councilman Brescher and Councilman Patil walking away from an issue rather than resolving it," Joshi said. "I am vetoing the Council's decision to rescind the ordinance that they unanimously voted in favor of in March of 2025. As lawmakers, it is in the best interest of the public for the Council to amend the ordinance to address concerns they have without walking away from the problem."

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