HomeMy WebLinkAboutA010 - Staff Report on Leaf Burning dated January 23, 1998 e---2 O
STAFF REPORT
LEAF BURNING
January 23, 1998
On January 13, the City Council passed a motion directing staff to provide
information regarding how other communities handle leaf disposal. Attached for your
review is a summary of our survey of this issue. We are always hesitant to perform a
survey without specific directions from the City Council as to which cities to call.
Obviously, this group of cities is not meant to be exhaustive. If we left out a
community from which you would like to obtain more information, we will certainly
contact that city.
As you can see from our survey, some communities allow for open burning while
others prohibit it. However, in nearly every community, the citizens are provided
with some type of curb side leaf pickup service. In most instances, the cities charge
an extra fee for this service, either in the form of a cost-per-bag or, in the case of
Waterloo, an increase in their monthly collection fee. Iowa City, which prohibits
open burning, offers the other alternative of not charging a specific user fee, but
incorporating the cost of this service in their Street Department budget so that it is
spread among all citizens.
Further exploration outside of the state of Iowa revealed other interesting techniques
for handling leaf disposal. For example, a number of municipalities in Wisconsin
have instituted leaf exchanges. In these cities, property owners who have large
gardens or planted areas are in need of the leaves and welcome the opportunity to
obtain this material.
The issue of how involved the City should become in the leaf disposal process is not a
new one. Back,in 1994 when the State implemented the new yard waste law, this
very issue was explored extensively by the City Council (see attached October 1994
report). The following three options were presented:
The first option promoted the use of volunteers with trucks to carry
bagged leaves from homeowners' properties to the leaf disposal site.
Community service groups, fraternities/sororities, and neighborhood
associations might be encouraged to assume this transportation task for
a small fee. In addition, it was suggested that a rebate program from the
City could be used to encourage residents to acquire and use leaf volume
reduction equipment.
The second option involved a modification of the free day concept by
contracting with local haulers to position garbage trucks around
different parts of the community. Citizens would be able to dump
their leaves directly into the packers.
The third option suggested that the City subsidize the transporting
the bagged leaves directly to the disposal site from the homeowner's
property. Since we have proven through our garbage collection
experience over many years that a private entity can perform this type of
service at less cost than the City, this option would involve a contract
arrangement with a private hauler for this pickup service.
Although none of the previous options were ultimately selected, the City Council did
approve an increased number of free days at the yard waste site. In addition, our
private haulers initiated a new service to pick up leaves at the homeowner's property
for a fee.
The issues that were discussed in 1994, when the new yard waste legislation came
into effect, are the same as today, except the City is now considering eliminating one
of the alternatives for leaf disposal -- outdoor burning.
1/23/98