The landmark eminent domain case, Kelo vs. New London, stemmed from one effort at economic recovery. The local government condemned waterfront homes in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood to make way for a planned hotel and housing as the city lured the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which moved the headquarters of its research division here. The case came to be defined by the plaintiff’s “little pink house,” which was moved elsewhere after the Supreme Court ruled in the city’s favor in 2005. (In 2009, eight years after its arrival, Pfizer left the city.)

Mr. Carrion’s case has stretched for nearly a year, beginning when he was cited in January after the city’s blight officer received a complaint from the mayor’s office, officials said. He was found to have violated an ordinance that limits the growth of plants, except for shrubs, bushes and other cultivated plants, to 10 inches, said Kenyon Haye, New London’s blight inspector. When Mr. Carrion did not take sufficient action after 60 days, Mr. Haye said, the city pursued the case again as a criminal violation. He was charged in State Superior Court in August, and he has pleaded not guilty.

“We couldn’t ignore the situation because the neighbors have had enough of it,” Michael Passero, the mayor of New London, said. “The neighbors have been reaching out to me for two or three years.”

Connecticut allows violations of zoning and building ordinances to be considered criminal offenses, with punishment including fines of up to $250 a day. But Sara Bronin, a law professor at the University of Connecticut, said that local governments often rely on other measures, like placing liens on property, as a way to encourage a property owner to act or allow the city to make needed alterations and then recoup the expense. “That’s more common these days than the blunt instrument of criminal proceedings,” she said.

A variety of the plant known as running bamboo can spread by as much as five feet a year and can grow just as much in height. Some forms of bamboo are regarded as invasive plants in several states, including New York, where selling, transporting or planting them has been barred. Running bamboo is not considered an invasive species in Connecticut, though there are limits on where it can be planted and plant sellers are required to warn buyers that it is a fast-growing plant that needs to be contained.

Mr. Carrion, who declined through his lawyer to comment, has said that the bamboo on his property is of the “clumping” variety, which grows much slower and is considered easier to maintain. He also said that he keeps the plant from crossing from his property.