Trustees Ponder Grass Cycling and Pick-up of Grass Clippings

A lively debate about the pros and cons of grass cycling took place at Village Hall on Tuesday night. A proposed code change would end the curbside pick-up of grass clippings from Village streets and proponents and opponents made their cases.

Advocates for grass cycling argue that leaving grass clippings on the lawn rather than picking them up and recycling them has benefits to home lawns and to the environment at large.

• The clippings maintain moisture
• They improve the health of the turf
• The clippings act as natural fertilizer

Furthermore, eliminating the need to truck these away would save fuel and reduce carbon emissions.

However, the Village currently picks up grass clippings, and it appears that the majority of landscapers pick up clippings rather than leave in place. Landscapers claim that clumps of heavy wet grass can rot and kill the grass. Furthermore, leaving it on the lawn does not appeal to some customers who seek a perfectly manicured lawn.

Several representatives form the New York State Turf and Landscape Association spoke against the proposal. Michale Iorio said that all the grass cannot be picked up and since they cannot use gas powered blowers, they cannot spread the clippings around. He said, "I would urge you not to take away another service that taxpayers receive. Landscapers will charge customers to take it away."

Michelle Sterling a co-chair of the Scarsdale Forum Sustainability Committee urged the trustees to see through Iorio's comments and recognize that he is representing the interests of the landscapers who don't want to have to charge their clients to pick up the clippings. She said, "our landscapers are taking away the clippings and their fertilizing effect and charging us to fertilize our lawns."

She said that the Scarsdale Parks Department has been grass cycling for years and that Scarsdale Schools have been doing this since the 1970's and she has "never heard about anyone complaining about grass clippings on fields."

She read notes from Renu Lalwani, Kaye Eisenman and Maggie Favretti in favor of grass cycling.

She asked the Trustees to exercise their leadership to do what's right, even if it does appear that the Village is taking away a service.

Darlene Le Francois-Haber, also a co-chair of the Forum's Sustainability Committee and a physician, spoke in favor of grass-cycling. She said her triplet daughters played on Scarsdale fields and favored, "Do like the pros, leave it after you mow."
She read a letter from Ron Schulhof in support of the proposed changes. He called the pick up of grass clippings an "Environmentally damaging, non-essential service," and said the "best place to dispose of clippings is the lawn." Schulhof said, "We can reduce out of county trucking and redeploy savings to other village needs." Dr. Haber said, "I often sit with individuals who think they can't change behavior which is clearly to their detriment. In the end you have to do the right thing. You are thinking about the health of our community and our environment. People need help and you're here to help them. I hope you come to a positive vote regarding the grass cycling effort."

Larry Wilson the Government Affairs Chair of the NYS Turf and Landscape Association told Trustees, "There is a certain aesthetic standard here. Some homeowners ask, what is this mess that you are leaving on my lawn? We live and die catering to the needs of homeowners. It is a bad climate to start discontinuing services here."

Susan Douglas said, "We have been doing grass cycling for three seasons. We had a dog die of cancer and that prompted us to examine the chemicals we were putting on our lawn. We now have an organic lawn, we leave the grass clippings on the lawn, they save water and trap moisture."

Lynne Clark, a realtor and longtime resident said she is a big recycler, but wants to make her own choices about what to recycle. She said, "Eliminating grass pick up has me on edge. Grass pick up is a valuable service to our residents. If residents cannot handle the removal of yard waste the new code creates an additional burden. Our village government should not be mandating what I do with my grass on my own property. To eliminate services now is not smart and not a boost for the spirit of our village....Educate our residents and let them choose for themselves. I want to cut my grass the way I want to."

David Fenigstein complained about the "choking smell of lawn pesticides," and said a healthy lawn requires less treatment. He said, "I think there are better things the town could do with its money than pick up grass....Let people pay for aesthetic standards themselves. Think about the long-term impact."

Lena Crandall said she has lived here since 1991 and grew up mowing the lawn. She said, "When grass clippings are long, all you have to do is go over them again and they disappear....If the landscapers mow over them more than once they will disappear even faster....Landscapers should educate their customers about what is good for their lawns...I hope you enact this change – it is a baby step in the right direction."

Merrill Clark, Lynne's husband said he had a long talk with his landscaper about the proposed code change. He said, "Our landscaper has invested in equipment that picks up everything on our lawn including twigs, clippings and leaves. He takes pride in how our lawn looks. There is no week in which only grass goes into the bag. He said we will not have a better looking lawn by leaving the clippings on the lawn. To be asked to buy new equipment and truck materials to the recycling center would be costly and added to the bills. My landscaper said not all his clients would go along with this – so I would be forced to drive the grass clippings to the recycling center."

Kelly Sperling said, "I want to support grass cycling. We practice it and the grass clippings go right back into the lawn. We have seen no downside to it."

Carol Silverman agreed. She said, "I have been here since Halloween of 1972 – 43 years. My lawn is not picture perfect – and a few years ago we started grasscycling and my lawn looks no worse."

Sterling also read a note from Tony Robinson, Commissioner of the Harrison Department of Public Works where they grass cycle by code. He said that "Education alone will not work.... There was no mass dumping." Sterling said, "The runoff from their clippings was going into their watershed and contaminating it so they had to make this change."

Deputy Mayor Marc Samwick said the code change will be voted on at the July 12th meeting of the Village Board of Trustees.

Appointments:

The Village will have a new fire chief. Thomas Caine is retiring on July 17th after nearly 32 years of service including 10 years as fire chief. A committee was assembled to interview the four candidates who applied for his position.

They named two finalists who were interviewed by the Mayor and the Village Manager. They selected Captain James Seymour to be the new Fire Chief of Scarsdale. The Scarsdale Fire Department will conduct a ceremony to appoint a new Fire Chief and a new Fire Captain on Tuesday July 12, 2016 at 1pm in the Scott Room at the Scarsdale Library.

Additional appointments were announced:
Michelle Sullivan Lichtenberg was named to the Advisory Council on Human Relations.

Marjorie Meiman and Ronnie Hirsch were named to the Advisory Council on People with Disabilities.

Gas Main:

Village Manager Steve Pappalardo announced that Con Edison is replacing a high pressure natural gas main on Crane Road between Post and Stonehouse Roads. The work is expected to take 8-10 weeks and will result in traffic delays. Con Edison will provide advanced notice to homeowners when the line is changed and they expect service to be disrupted for no more than 8 hours. There will be a single reversible lane for most of the time of the project. A small part of the bottom portion of the Village Hall parking lot is being used to stage Con Edison's equipment. The Village is looking into hiring a private inspector to represent them. Pappalardo asked for residents' patience while the work is done.

At the end of the meeting Trustees Matt Callaghan and Marc Samwick made comments about the 2016 revaluation. Watch them here: 

What is your view on the proposed change to end the pick-up of grass clippings? Please send us your comments in the box below.