Editorial: ‘Goat Scaping’ comes to Horizon Park shoreline

After the Belleville City Council unanimously accepted the low bid of Randy Brown Landscaping to bring goats to Horizon Park to remove the vegetation along the water, there was some discussion.
At the Aug. 16 meeting Brown said he would start the week of Aug. 23-29 and the goats would be there for two weeks until about Sept. 11. The goats would be surrounded by an electric fence and they would eat everything down to the water, he said. If there were any trees left, he could cut them down. Then they would put on an approved spray to keep the growth down yearly.
“All right, let those goats begin,” said Mayor Conley, adding, “Don’t feed them anything other than the trees.”
Councilwoman Kelly Bates said people from all over may come to see Belleville’s goats. And, the city is getting free fertilizer as well, she said.
“It’s recycling,” said Councilman Ken Voigt. “It seems like a silly thing to some people.” He explained it’s called “goat scaping” and has been used successfully in Ann Arbor parks. “Maybe it will bring more people into the downtown and they can shop in our stores.”
Voigt was the one who told the council about Brown’s goat suggestion to clean up the shoreline. Brown said they are the same goats that Ann Arbor used.
Let the show begin.