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June 2023 Left Rail

NOTICE from the Village of NB: Fines for Grass Clippings in the Street!

LEFT: If you blow clippings into the street, you must blow or sweep them up when you are done mowing – otherwise – you get fined! Do your share to keep the stormsewers system flowing!!!

Grass Clippings – – –
July 22, 2015

North Baltimore Village Council will be adopting an emergency ordinance prohibiting residents from placing grass clippings on streets, curbs, alleys or sidewalks. A draft of the proposed Ordinance is provided herein.

The recent rain events have challenged our stormwater system to its limits. Aggressive effort to keep debris especially grass clippings out of the stormwater system; catch basins, gutters, gutter grates, swales and ditches is essential to maximize the function of the stormwater system throughout the Village. This effort will improve the flow of stormwater and reduce the risk of localized flooding. Many stormwater pipes throughout the village are becoming clogged and needlessly plugged due to debris; mostly grass clippings.

All residents are asked to do their part to help improve the flow of stormwater; clean-up, bag, or mulch your grass clippings.

DON’T ALLOW GRASS CLIPPINGS TO ENTER THE STORMWATER SYSTEM!

GRASS CLIPPINGS & YARD WASTE –

Due to the negative impact on the Village’s Storm Water Collection system, it is hereby declared to be unlawful for any person, firm, association, or corporation to deposit, place, discard, drop or in any other manner scatter any grass clippings, leaves, branches or other lawn, garden, or tree waste in or upon the streets, curbs, sidewalks, or alleys of the Village of North Baltimore except as identified below.

a. Branches and tree limbs shall be placed together in bundles and placed at the appropriate street or alley line for collection by the Public Works Department on the appointed days as set forth in the published schedule.

b. Bagged leaves may be deposited in the street lawns of the Village near the curb in such a manner as directed by the Village Administrator at such times of the year as specified in public notices by the Village Office contemporaneously with the beginning and ending of such time periods.

c. Nothing in the Ordinance shall be construed as prohibiting the temporary scattering of grass clippings, leaves, or the like on Village streets, curbs, alleys, or sidewalks where the same occurs incidental to and during mowing, raking, or clipping operations provided the same shall thereafter be removed and corrected immediately at the conclusion of such operations.

Any person violating any provision of this Ordinance will be subject to a fine of $50.00 for the first offense and $100.00 for any subsequent offense.

20 Responses

  1. JT.

    You should know by now to not ask the village anything like that. The administration either tells you that nothing will be done or they will lie right to your face and tell you something will be done. Then in the end nothing will be done. The village hears the citizens complaints but the village doesn’t take them into consideration. The village just sweeps everything under the rug.

  2. You can count on this new Emergency Ordinance to be enforced as equally as all others. I know of numerous people who were harassed for driving a golf cart in town. An ordinance was passed to allow golf carts to be driven only from your personal residence to the golf course and home again. I see individuals – some even carrying children – roaming through the town. I have seen an individual driving one all the way to the Fuel Mart area. Yes, good for the goose, but never the gander. As far as this grass clipping ordinance, I see some getting cited, but it is decided by who you are. Simple as that.

  3. Am I the only resident to notice that Council members do NOT represent us? Every action they take is reported as an Emergency Ordinance. When do they ever consider how we feel? They do not take time to consult with us. Everything on their agenda is an emergency. The minimum water bill is just short of $70.00 per month. They claim it is due to the sewage costs. Hmmmm … does this mean they are trying to double dip us on sewage maintenance and repair? As you may recall, this was another Emergency Ordinance – to increase our water bills. I bet Village Council will enact the other increases as planned. It appears time to replace the current Council members or better yet, get outta NB. Loving this community gets to be tedious when we continually must part with our mighty dollars.

  4. Rather than everybody complain that a street sweeper isn’t making the usual rounds, how about we all do our part? It shouldn’t be the job of the village to clean up the grass clippings you blew out into the street. The village is not your mother and they shouldn’t have to clean up your mess. If they do have to clean up your mess, then they have every right to charge you for it. Is it really that hard to not blow them into the street and sidewalk, or to blow them back when you’re done? I get tired of driving through a green wasteland when I drive by certain houses, and this ordinance is just a small step to try and make things look presentable around here.

  5. After this was posted, I still noticed grass in the streets, mainly by CSP and that general area. Are they going to fine CSP for not picking that up? My front yard is extremely uneven after the town cutting down my trees a few years ago and also from the town sending Helms and Son’s to do my lines. When I mow I cannot mow how I used to because I have divots in my yard, not like you can see because I put grass seed down at the beginning of the summer. Therefore grass does go in the street because of the way I have to mow. To avoid me getting fined it would be extremely awesome if the town would actally put my front yard the way it was before they sent companies in to do work, that’s what they were supposed to do obviously they didn’t. Sadly, keeping the grass clippings out of the street won’t make our town look better, the roads are terrible and alleys are terrible. I’ve been calling for years to get my alley paved and I get an excuse every year as to why they won’t get it done. They won’t even put stone down to even out the pot holes. I pay my property taxes too just like everyone else!

  6. Tom, I asked at the village office about the leaf vacuum a few years ago, I was told it was broken and prob would not be fixed, was not given a reason why. I agree with you the bags stink, and are almost useless, plus I see residents putting out non-village bags and they get picked up as well.

  7. And whatever happened to the leaf vacuum? that hasn’t been in operation in quite a while. i remember when citizens used to pile leaves in the front yard and the village would come by and vacuum them up! now the village hands out extremely cheap bags that break by the time you are able to carry it to the front yard. i would love to make this village a great place again but us citizen can only do so much when the village administration doesn’t do anything about citizens concerns/complaints.

  8. If they are making the citizens of North Baltimore do the Street Departments job in cleaning up the streets, then they need to get rid of of some employees. We ain’t getting paid to clean up the streets but we are paying them in taxes to drive the street sweeper. It’s a lose lose situation for the citizens of NB. Please solve the issue of lack of street sweeping in this town.

  9. Really?? Grass clippings?? I saw the the street cleaner out today for the first time in a very long time… And by the sight of the intersection of where I live, I’d say the village needs to hire a new driver… Someone who knows how to operate such a machine/vehicle would be a good idea, as well as putting it to use more often!
    I agree with all the comments above… I sure someone on the city council is reading the comments from us residents, especially the comment about hoping this applies to everyone!!
    Just curious, when the wind blows and grass clippings are blown into the street or over from the neighbor’s yard, are you going to be able to enforce this ordinance for real?? I will not pay for something a neighbor is at fault for!! By the way, I don’t guess mother nature will be fined, [removed by editor – inappropriate]??

  10. June 12th was the last time the street sweeper was seen in the neighborhood. By the looks of the two pictures, taken on East Walnut on that day, it was dumping debris instead of picking it up. Did the Village clean up after itself? NOPE! Lead by example, please!!! (Editor’s note: we currently have no way to add the photos to the comment section)

  11. This situation is out of control. Use the Village sweeper! Do not threaten to fine me for throwing grass clippings into the street. I clean the sewer drain on the property and keep it free from all debris – grass, leaves and twigs. Need to hire someone to drive the sweeper? You could have hired 3 (three) guys with the money spent on hiring a Village Administrator with extremely high wages for such a small community. Community service could be well served by having people operate the sweeper, fill pot holes and cleaning of the sewer drains.

  12. I agree totally with all the comments above. The Streets in town are ridiculous, water and sewer cost out of control. Town mowing, sweeping, cleaning and revitalization leaves a lot to be desired. But lets pay a fine for grass in the streets!!!!!

  13. I have personally noticed 2 catch basins on Second St. where the old high school was, full of leaves, poss grass clippings but more leaves and a small piece of grass growing out of one, and small maples leaves growing out of the other, I am almost positive theses are not the only to like this in town, full of leaves.

  14. Does this also apply to the street dept. when they come around & leave all the wood chips on the street after picking up brush at the beginning of each month? The street sweeper should just follow them as it is much worse than grass clippings.

  15. If the village swept the streets every two weeks like they are supposed to, then I wouldn’t have to weed whack along THEIR curbs. The streets look pathetic heading into North Baltimore’s Good Old Summertime Celebration. Nothing has been done to spruce up our Village, WHY? My son swept and shoveled up a wheelbarrow full of dirt and stone out of the street in from of our home and took it down to the nearest alley and filled potholes with it. Now you want to issue fines for this??? The residents are not getting the services that they are paying for! WHAT’S GOING ON???

  16. I was just curious on when the residents of this village is gonna say enough is enough! We are way over priced for water and sewer as is. It’s not the responsibility of every village member to be over charged and fined because our council and Treasury put us into a hole way deeper than grass clippings in the sewer. Sweep them up with street sweeper we don’t use but still pay for! I figure there will probably be an additional charge/fine for that as well. Pathetic!

  17. I agree with Ed, the street sweeper is not out enough and not being used as it should. If this “new” ordinance is going to be enforced so then are all the others? Parking on certain streets after snowfall, clearing of snow off sidewalks, properties with tall grass not being mowed, and what about fire pits folks have in their back yards? Also how much of grass clippings are going to be considered finable, gross amounts is obvious.

  18. One thing I would like to see would be the opportunity to dispose of grass clippings. I like to bag my clippings and utilized the disposal site in Bowling Green when I lived there. However, I can no longer use that site since I am not a resident now. Is there a place to dispose of these in the village? Do the garbage collection services take grass? Are there any suggestions?

  19. What would be better is that our Public works Dept. would use the equipment they have more often then they do! I’m referring to the street sweeper, this machine is not operated as often as it should be, and is not used to it’s fullest potential, by this I mean cleaning catch basin in the Village! Ye the sweeper has this ability, it would be nice if the residents could see it being used for what it was intended and purchased for! It has been on the books for many years I believe Glen Parsons was the Mayor when this was put on village ordinance so why do we need to pay for it to written again? Council READ what is already there, that is what you are there for!!!

  20. Hopefully this applies to everyone – think you know what I mean! I think it is wonderful and will help not only with the storm sewers but with the overall appearance of our village:)Now let’s make sure this is enforced!!

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