(a) Yard refuse containers will be issued to all persons and entities receiving yard refuse services. Only yard refuse placed in containers issued by the city for the specific purpose of yard refuse collection will be picked up by the city or its contract agent.
(b) Notwithstanding provisions of this chapter to the contrary, leaves, lawn clippings, tree and shrub
prunings, or like plant material may be placed in a city-issued yard refuse container on the street at the curb for collection by the city or its contract agent. No hazardous waste, stumps, concrete, metal objects, soil, garbage, sod, plastic plant containers, animal waste, pampas grass, flax, palm branches, rocks, food waste or other similar non-plant material, as determined by the city sanitation officer, shall be placed in the container or on the street.
(c) Upon issuance of yard refuse containers, no leaves, lawn clippings, tree and shrub prunings, or like plant material may be placed on any street, sidewalk, or public right-of-way. Notwithstanding this prohibition, during the designated monthly or spring collection period, leaf collection season, or if prior arrangements have been made with the city or its contract agent, yard refuse, except lawn clippings, may be placed in the street for pickup. The placement of lawn clippings in the street is prohibited year round. Unless designated otherwise, leaf drop season will begin on October 15 and end on January 15. Christmas trees may be placed in the street for pickup during the designated leaf collection season. During these designated periods, yard refuse or Christmas trees will be picked up provided that they are placed and maintained in a pile or piles immediately adjacent to, and in front of, the property from which they originated and maintained as not to restrict reasonable gutter drainage or obstruct traffic. During these designated periods, piles may be placed in the street no sooner than one calendar week before the scheduled collection. Pile sizes shall not exceed four feet wide by five feet long by four feet high.
(d) The city council finds that the public health, safety, and welfare of the people of the city is benefited by the collection of yard refuse from all places within the city except places of industrial or commercial uses. Yard refuse service is mandatory for all new noncommercial and non-industrial property owners except for those persons who, prior to November 1, 1987, opted out of the yard refuse service program and except for commercial and industrial accounts. The yard refuse service is optional for commercial and industrial accounts; however these properties must be located in an area where the city or its contract agent has agreed to provide such service and the person or entity seeking yard refuse service must contact the city or its contract agent to initiate service.
(e) That portion of the yard refuse service dealing with street sweeping shall be mandatory for all areas of the city, residential, commercial, industrial or otherwise. Those subscribers who do not have full yard refuse service shall pay a proportionate fee for street sweeping.
(f) Commercial and industrial sites that do not subscribe to the yard refuse program shall provide for on-site disposal of yard refuse, self haul the material, or have it removed from the property by a business where such removal is incidental to the services provided.
(g) Violations.
1. Notice and Opportunity to Cure. The city or contract agent shall provide written notice of a violation of this section to any person or entity placing yard refuse in or on any street, sidewalk, or public right-of-way. The person or entity receiving the notice shall have seven days from the date of the notice to remove the yard refuse. If the yard refuse is not removed within this seven-day period, the city shall issue a citation.
2. Fines. Any person or entity violating any provision of this section may be issued an administrative citation pursuant to Chapter 14A, Article VII. Each additional seven-day period after the issuance of a citation pursuant to Chapter 14A, Article VII in which any person or entity continues to violate any provision of this section shall constitute a new and separate violation. Any person or entity violating any provision of this section within a twelve-month period of the first violation, regardless of whether the new violation relates to the previous violation, shall be issued an additional administrative citation pursuant to Section 14A-7-3(d)(2).
3. In addition to the fines set forth above, any person or entity violating any provision of this section shall be liable for the cost of removing and disposing of the yard refuse. The city sanitation officer, or his or her designee, shall keep an account of the costs of cleanup and removal of the yard refuse. If the city removes the unlawful yard refuse, it shall bill the violator directly, and if the contract agent collects the refuse, the costs of cleanup and removal will be added to the violator’s solid waste utility bill.
(h) This section shall become operative on January 15, 2008. (Ord. No. 1479 § 4.)