Keep Sidewalks Clear Of Leaves, Remind Gardening Crews To Pick Up Leaves, Not Blow Them To Adjacent Yards Or Into Street

The Laurelhurst Blog has received several emails about slippery areas around the neighborhood due to leaves in public areas.  

City Code requires property owners to keep adjacent sidewalks, roads, and alleys clear of all obstructions, including raking leaves, shoveling snow and repairing damaged sidewalks

Neighbors wrote:

It would be great if you could remind neighbors to clean the leaves and debris off their city sidewalks. The leaves have become slippery and then when frost is added it is downright dangerous. 

We walk our dog every day and would appreciate neighbors raking up their leaves so that we don't potentially slip and fall. We believe the City has an ordinance regarding keeping public areas clear of debris.  

The 4100 block of Surber Drive seems to be regularly covered with a layer of leaves.  It is hazardous, especially when it is dark.  We ask neighbors to please be considerate and clean up sidewalks around their homes. 

Here is the applicable Seattle City Code:

SMC 10.52.030 Duties of owners and occupants.

A. It is the duty of the owner of the property and of any occupant of the property wherein or whereon any such nuisance exists to abate the nuisance by destroying, removing or trimming vegetation, and removing or destroying any health, safety or fire hazard.

B. In addition to duties the owner or occupant may have to abate nuisances, the owner or occupant of property shall:

1. Remove vegetation in or on an abutting sidewalk;

2. Destroy, remove or trim vegetation or parts thereof on the property, and which are also overhanging any sidewalk within eight (8) feet measured vertically from any point on the sidewalk;

3. Destroy, remove or trim vegetation or any parts thereof on the property or on adjacent planting strips, which encroaches on or overhangs the traveled portion of the street or alley within fourteen (14) feet measured vertically from any point on the street or alley;

4. Remove vegetation constituting a safety hazard found on adjacent planting strips or alleys;

5. Remove vegetation constituting a fire hazard found on adjacent planting strips or alleys;

6. Remove vegetation constituting a health hazard found on adjacent planting strips or alleys.

Also leaf blowing from one property into another neighbor's yard or into the street is not allowed.

Neighbors wrote:

I am continually cleaning up after our neighbors lawn workers blow leaves onto our side of street, weekly. 

It's not just the noise of leaf blowers that's aggravating, it's the dust that flies up into the eyes of passers-by and onto parked cars. 

Landscapers consistently blow the neighbor's leaves into our planting strip and in front of it, then drive off, leaving us to clean it up. Aren't they getting paid to clean up their client's yard, completely and thoroughly, including picking up their leaves and hauling them away? 

I noticed recently some gardeners just blowing leaves around and then blew them across the street.. Please tell your lawn crew to pick up the leaves, not blow them to your neighbors yard.

A landscaping crew working on a house on our block always blows leaves from the neighbor's yard, sidewalk and street in front of their home right into other's yards and right into the sidewalk and street in front of other homes. Is this legal? Aren't they paid to clean up the area that they service rather than just  move it down the street and then drive off leaving a mess to clean up for other neighbors? 

We regularly watch the gardening crew use their leaf blower to blow all the leaves from that house to the street and sidewalk. Blowing leaves into the street is negligent as it clogs the drains and can cause flooding, as well as possibly running the risk of getting water in someone’s basement.  Additionally, the City is not always readily available to clean the drain. Crews that are dispatched to clear the streets also can be hampered by added debris in the street. It is also disrespectful and lazy as the crew assumes the neighbors will clean up the large amount of leaves and other debris left by the gardening crew.  

Can you post in the Blog about landscaping crews that use very loud leaf blowers, and don't even turn them off when pedestrians walk by? Isn't there an accepted and approved noise level in Seattle? And why do they get to blow the leaves into the street and into neighbors yards without any care for others? Maybe because they don't live in this neighborhood.  We, neighbors, are left to clean up double the amount of leaves on our properties and in the street. The best and most neighborly thing to do is for the landscaping crew to pick up the leaves at the home they are servicing and take the leaves or put them into the homeowner’s yard waste bin or make a compost pile.  

Leaf blowers are very loud and thus annoying to neighbors and those that walk or drive by.  Excessive sound levels are not only objectionable, but they can also be a public health hazard.  Leaf blower operators wear hearing protection for a reason, because sustained exposure to more than 85 dBA at close proximity damages hearing. They should take into consideration that when children and others walk by, the blowers should immediately be turned off.  

We have seen pedestrians and even a landscape crew dump yard waste and other matter into our containers and those of our neighbors. Is this legal? We don't believe it is. Sometimes we watch them just blow the leaves onto someone else's property, into the street in front of another home, or just blow them down the sidewalk.

City Municipal Code SMC 15.46.030 states: 

Deposits in street or gutter

It is unlawful to wash or sweep or otherwise deposit any matter in any street or gutter.

Seattle Municipal Code Section 21.36.440 states:

Unlawful use of solid waste container on private property 

It is unlawful for anyone not authorized by the property owner or
occupant to deposit any material in any solid waste container on
private property or on a sidewalk or a planting strip abutting private
property.

Regarding permissible sound levels emitted by leaf blowers, Seattle Municipal Codes sections 25.08.410 and SMC 25.08.425, states that sound levels of up to 60-90 dBA at 50 feet from the source are permissible during regular working hours.  Sound levels that exceed 90 dBA can be subject to notices of violation, citation, and fines. Excessive noise can also be reported to the Seattle Police.

Here is the form a neighbor suggested to submit illegal dumping, including yard waste onto the street. 

In addition, City Code requires property owners cut back encroaching shrubs and hedges to a minimum eight-foot clearance above sidewalks and fourteen feet above roads and alleys.