Council vexed by grass clippings in gutters

(8/15) A significant portion of the August Town Council meeting was occupied with a discussion on how to handle grass clippings that are being blown into the town streets by residents when they cut their lawns.

While the issue may seem insignificant to many, it does have ramifications, Burgess Heath Barnes noted. It affects the flow, and more importantly quality of storm water that flows into the town’s storm water drainage system, and eventually into the Chesapeake Bay.

The issue was brought to the Council’s attention by resident Brenda Hedges during the public comment period of the Council’s meeting. She told the Council that in some areas of town, the clippings have gotten so thick that it’s almost impossible to tell where the curb ends and the street begins, which could prove to be a tripping hazard for those like herself, who enjoy walking through the town everyday, not to mention "taking away from the aesthetics of the town," she said.

Barnes confirmed that in some areas of the town, the clippings have gotten so thick that grass and weeds are actually now growing out of the dead clippings and taking root in such a way that the town’s hand pushed gutter cleaner is incapable of removing them.

Councilman Jessie Case picked up on Hedges’ concerns about the accumulation of clippings being a tripping hazard, and added that the blowing of grass into the street created a more immediate concern for bicyclists and motorcyclists who could easily lose control of their bikes on the grass in the street, especially when it is wet.

Councilman Cutshall noted that wet grass will also affect the braking of cars. Given that the greatest accumulation of grass clippings in the streets is in the more heavily residential areas, with kids often in the streets, an "accident is just waiting to happen."

Vexed by the situation, the Council debated how to address the public’s justified concerns. Barnes noted that there is no town regulation prohibiting the blowing of grass clippings into the street, and admitted that the best time to have addressed it would have been when the town passed the changes to allowable grass height this spring.

"If we want to insert language into the code, we will have to start the process all over again, starting with a pubic notice and public hearing." Barnes said. "It’s not something we are going to be able to fix overnight."

The Council agreed to at least see what the town staff could do on the more egregious areas where clippings have built up to a point that the gutters are no longer visible.

How to address the root of the issue—the blowing of grass clippings into the streets—was deferred until a future date.