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Despite complaints about curbside pickup of yard debris being reduced from twice to once a month, Oakwood city officials are sticking with a change they say will save $100,000 a year along with other adjustments in trash pickup.
But they’ve decided to add a new do-it-yourself option, starting in late September, that provides separate dumpsters for yard waste and recyclables in the Creager Field parking lot off Shafor Boulevard, where cardboard dropoff for residents has been offered for several years.
Also in September, residents will received city-provided 96-gallon wheeled containers for regular household trash. Residents can continue to use self-provided receptacles for recyclable discards.
Changes in the curbside yard debris pickup coincided with stormy July weather that left yards littered with limbs and branches that many residents collected and stacked in the street, even though it has been a longstanding city policy to place those items behind the curb, away from trees, power poles and fences.
Piles of branches that would have been taken away within two weeks lingered in some cases for three or almost four as a result.
“We heard many comments about that,” said council member Rob Stephens. “I’ve heard from some constituents who said they thought that passing the property tax levy in May would mean a return to twice-a-week pickup. That isn’t the case. We are still looking for ways to make up the revenue we have lost as a city due to the end of the estate tax and state funding sources.”
Stephens said city officials “have listened to the concerns. We continue to tweak the policy, which is why we will be adding those dumpsters. We will also supplement the monthly pickups in the event of major future storm events. But for regular yard waste, we’re all just going to have to pay more attention to the schedule. It we put those materials out a day or two early, they won’t be out there for days or weeks.”
The dumpsters are for use by city residents only. Council approved an ordinance in July that sets penalties for unauthorized dumping by others.
The pickup schedule is available on the city website, the printed city newsletter “Oakwood Scene,” or by calling the service department at 298-0777.
Some residents who have piled materials in the street have received notices from the city asking them to move the debris behind the curb.
“Those can be traffic hazards, but they can also wash down into our storm sewers,” Stephens said.
Oakwood will continue to offer bulky-waste dropoff for residents at the the Foell Public Works Center, 210 Shafor Blvd., on the first Saturday of the month.
Leaf collection will be done, as usual, every two weeks during pickup season in the fall. Leaves only can be piled in curbside, in the street.
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