Springdale clarifies lawn care requirements

SPRINGDALE — Grass mowed. Check. Leaves raked. Check. Sidewalks swept. Check.

But is the job complete? The City Council redefined the standards expected of property owners with a 7-0 vote at Tuesday’s meeting.

City workers were overwhelmed last summer keeping grass mowed, said Brad Baldwin, director of engineering and public works. He said employees assigned to work on replacing asphalt and clearing drains in the summer were called away to cut grass throughout the city because the landscape department couldn’t cover it all.

The city probably was operating a $500,000 “lawn service,” Baldwin said. “It was a burden to taxpayer money and taking money away from private industry.”

The department’s proposed budget for cutting grass in 2019 is $250,000.

“They’re more clarifying than anything,” said Ernest Cate, city attorney, of the ordinances he updated. The ordinances addressed the issues, but somewhat vaguely.

For example, property owners have always been required to keep bushes, limbs and tall grass trimmed around any traffic signs. But the new language explains the line of sight for drivers must be clear.

It’s a safety issue, Cate said. He cited an instance on Falcon Road when a driver pulled up and couldn’t see the traffic coming because of overgrown bushes.

Also, homeowners must clean their lawns and their fence rows that lie within 12 feet of a street or a subdivision. Ron Findley, director of the Code Enforcement Department, gave the example of a subdivision on Har-Ber Avenue. The subdivision backs up to the street, leaving about four feet of grass between the street and the homeowners’ back fences.

The city was mowing the strips, but the homeowners own that four feet and are required to mow it. “It’s still private property,” Cate said.

Property owners are in charge of keeping the streets clear to the center line of the street, he said.

That also means leaves, grass clippings and bulky waste can’t be left on streets or sidewalks.

The requirements were changed to include specifically items cannot be dumped into gutters and storm drains. Such debris fills the drains, causing a backup of water and possible flooding, Baldwin said. The city’s permit with the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality requires this, and

“Personally, I don’t like it when people leave their cut grass in the street. Mine goes out into the street, but I use my lawnmower to blow it back onto the yard.”

— Jim Reed, council member

residents need to do their part, he said.

“Personally, I don’t like it when people leave their cut grass in the street,” said council member Jim Reed. “Mine goes out into the street, but I use my lawnmower to blow it back onto the yard.”

Reed said the timing of the issue was important because of the leaves that have fallen this time of year.

“It also helps those in Code Enforcement clearly understand what they are looking at,” Baldwin said.

But most people already complete these chores, Findley said. Findley started with the department in January and reported good success, with no tickets written this summer — just a few reminders to some residents it’s time to start mowing the grass again. Most reminders noted tall grass on vacant properties.

He said letters will be sent to the residences affected by the change, those where the city will no longer mow. About 250 properties will be affected.

If a property is found out of compliance, the code enforcement officer will leave a warning at the property, giving seven days to correct the problem, Findley said. If still not in compliance, the officers will leave another warning, with a 24-hour time limit. After that, the city places a lien against the property for the cost of mowing.

Amelia Taldo-Williams will take her seat on the City Council in January, and during her campaign, she proposed creating more specific guidelines for property owners to follow when it came to the city’s requirements.

She noted while the tweaking didn’t provide an exact length allowed for limbs hanging over the street, it did compare limbs with the height of street signs. “So they are giving the certain height of the street signs to gauge against,” she said.

“Not obstructing drains is also a good thing,” Taldo-Williams said. “You don’t ever want where there are flooding issues because conditions are not clear. Flooding can cause property damage.”

Mayor Doug Sprouse combined the public works and engineering departments last summer when Sam Goade retired as the director of the Public Works Department. Baldwin added the department to his duties as director of the engineering department.

“I asked the council to clarify what grass Public Works was supposed to mow and what property owners were supposed to cut,” Baldwin said.

The city will continue to mow areas along the flood plains and the exits along Interstate 49. He plans to call for bids and contract with private firms to mow along parkways, such as Don Tyson, Gene George Boulevard and Watkins Avenue.

Baldwin listed in his budget the cost of special equipment to more efficiently mow what they have. “With regular lawn mowers, we had to mow every week to 10 days or more if the area received extreme amounts of rain,” he said.

“It’s gonna be hard when things start this spring and the city is no longer mowing what they have in the past,” he said. “But we will work through it.”