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

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.

Brian with Seattle Public Utlities (SPU) told the Laurelhurst Blog:

Trees make our city beautiful but fall leaves can be a safety hazard and cause street flooding. We would appreciate your help encouraging people to manage their leaves to keep them off the street and out of the storm drain.  

For serious flooding, please call 206-387-1800. For non-urgent plugged storm drains, please submit a service request here. Go here for more information.

 

Here are ways to manage fallen leaves: 

• Rake leaves and put them into your yard waste cart. If you have more than will fit into the cart, place extras in a compostable lawn and leaf bag or a reusable container with a lid. Put them out next to your yard waste container on collection day – no plastic bags. During the month of November, SPU collects up to 10 extra bags of yard waste at no charge to the customer.  Extra yard waste must be in paper bags or in an extra container that contains only yard waste.
• Place raked leaves on bare soil as mulch in your landscape and garden. This conserves water, controls weeds and fertilizes the soil. 
• If you use a leaf blower, please collect the leaves to use as mulch in garden beds or bag them for collection. If you hire a landscaper to help with fall cleanup, make sure they are collecting the leaves and keeping them out of the street. 
• You can also help reduce flooding by keeping nearby storm drains clear of leaves and debris by 1) standing on the curb, not in the street. Please do not clear drains on major streets or arterials 2) clear the drain before it starts raining 3) Never use your hands to remove debris 4) Use a long-handled dustpan, shovel or a trash can lid to pick up debris. Gloves are recommended 5) Avoid items that have the potential to be hazardous or cause injury.

 

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

Neighbors wrote to the Laurelhurst Blog:

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.  

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.