New and long-time residents alike are reminded of the Town contract for bulk leaf removal each autumn. The contractor, Green Earth, Inc., will make regular but unscheduled pickups of leaves raked or blown into windrows within six (6) feet of any roadway or walkway, excluding Railroad Street, 2nd Ave., 3rd Ave., 4th Ave., 5th Ave., and Boundary Street. Also this year, from Grove Avenue between Center and Brown (details below). This service begins October 31, 2020 and ends January 4, 2021, or as soon thereafter as we agree the work is complete.
This is the only time to have leaves removed without bagging for recycling. The contractor will time pickups based on the availability of full truckloads for vacuuming. One or two spectacular fall weekends in November or early December usually have most of us raking at the same time. If you rake when most others are raking, the windrows will probably disappear relatively quickly.
Please place your windrows within six (6) feet of the road or walkway (keeping in mind car & pedestrian traffic).
Green Earth will collect leaves by working from one end of the Town to the other, typically starting with Ridge Road working their way across the community, first removing piles along roads for safety reasons. After making one pass along roads, they will focus on walkways. If roads become obstructed before walkways are completed, roads will be cleared until they are safe. Then collection will resume along walkways. Weather may affect this process. Rain can restrict movement of large trucks on the avenues and accumulated snow or freezing rain may make piles too heavy to vacuum.
The contractor will not remove leaf piles that contain branches, brush, pruned limbs, and cut ornamental grasses. Please do not add these to leaf piles. They foul the vacuum and Green Earth will not collect piles containing this material.
If a particular leaf pile has lingered for an inordinate amount of time, please call Kathy Lehman at the Town Office, 301-926-2256, or by e-mail [email protected].
Happy raking! It’s the rite of autumn, particularly in a town graced by so many beautiful deciduous trees.
No Leaf Collection this Year on Grove Avenue between Brown and Center Streets.
Unfortunately, the WSSC sewer replacement project on Grove Avenue will continue well into this year’s leaf collection season. Consequently, residents of the Avenue between Center and Brown should place leaf rows for pickup only on Grove Road or Chestnut Road, and not on the Avenue where there will be no leaf pickup.
While the project is in progress, equipment and the disturbed walkway surface will make access for the leaf collection trucks (our contractor Green Earth) problematic. Even after the project is completed, the disturbed walkway surface will be soft, seeded for new grass and overlaid with straw for protection. New gravel will be needed, which will be placed by Town maintenance to insure the best outcome.
For adequate restoration of Grove Avenue, the walkway should be disturbed as little as possible into next Spring.