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Marietta leaf pickup begins today

MARIETTA — With the colors of fall already in full bloom across Marietta, the city administration is rolling out a new program to dispose of fallen leaves in town.

In previous years three city parks played host to temporary drop-off locations for citizens’ leaves but continued abuse of that service caused unsightly and illegal dumping of more than just the dispersement of trees.

“It got to be a mess,” said Mayor Joe Matthews of the long-standing tradition of temporary drop-off locations at Buckeye, Indian Acres and Lookout parks. “People were throwing in tree branches and trash in there that shouldn’t be mixed in with the leaves. There were even diapers in those bags that our streets crew had to sort out before using the leaf machine.”

“It wasn’t uncommon for people to drop in sneakers, potted plans and logs in there as well,” said Safety-Service Director Jonathan Hupp. “It’s important for people to realize our machine is not a wood chipper or just general waste disposal. It’s basically just a big fan that finely chops leaves.”

The city is providing an alternative for citizens beginning today, and dropping of leaves at the park sites will no longer be allowed. Residents can bag up their fallen leaves and drive their loads to Gilman Avenue near the Kiwanis pavilion between the Putnam Bridge and the Marietta College boathouse. Between 3-7 p.m., a drive-thru dropoff station for leaves will be manned by the city’s streets crew.

“People will be dropping off leaves in front of our guys so they can verify no other odd debris is being dumped,” said Hupp. “Then they can take their bags back home for the next round of shedding from their trees.”

Hupp said the Monday drop-off service will run through the entire leaf season, including when the streets crew begins sweeping the city on Nov. 14.

Those sweeps will begin on the numbered streets of Marietta and then move to cross streets, the North Hills area, lower west side, upper and lower Norwood, Harmar Hill and the south end of Marietta.

Kathy Davis, stormwater coordinator for the Washington Soil and Water Conservation District, also emphasized why residents must not rake their leaves into the street.

“The big thing is it plugs up the storm drains,” she said. “Then the streets flood and that’s dangerous for both drivers and pedestrians. If you’re going to have the city suck up your leaves as they do their rounds, sweep the leaves to the curb, not in the streets and don’t leave the bags on the curb for pickup.”

Hupp said leaving leaves bagged on the curb would impede the efficiency of the streets crew as it makes its way through town.

“We understand bagging those so they don’t blow around after you’ve raked them up, but please, when you see the signs prior to the day our crew is going out, go ahead and dump them back out so they can be sucked up by our machine,” he said. “Or utilize the drive-thru on Mondays. If bags are left on the side of the road, or cars are not moved for the machine and dump truck to drive through, our crew is instructed to pass that residence by.”

Hupp also explained that fines for illegal dumping and after-hours trespassing could be assessed to residents abusing previous sites at parks.

“We are not targeting individuals but two codified ordinances have been in our books for years allowing for fines to be assessed for illegal dumping, trespass and raking leaves into the route of storm drains,” he said.

Unlawful dumping at a park is a minor misdemeanor and punishable by a fine not less than $5 and not more than $50, plus court costs. Damaging storm drains due to raking leaves into the road carries an additional $100 fine per day.

Marietta residents can also continue to take their leaves for composting at the Greenleaf facility. The Greenleaf compost center just off Ohio 821 at the edge of the city has a contract with Marietta to allow residents to drop off leaves. The site does not accept bagged leaves, so residents must empty bags on site.

Users must register at Greenleaf Landscapes on Muskingum Drive before dumping leaves.

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