Town Proposes Elimination of Lake Area Leaf Pickup
Date 2007/12/10 13:32:28 | Topic: Lake Management
|  In the December 6th, 2007 issue of the Lewisboro Ledger, there is an article about eliminating the leaf pickup service the town provides to the lake communities. The article is here: <http://www.acorn-online.com/news/publish/lewisboro/26097.shtml>
The concern about leaves in the lake boil down to:
- leaves provide nutrients for weed growth in the spring and summer months
- eliminating the leaves from the nutrient cycle in the lakes reduces weed growth and reduces costly chemical treatment
- small lot sizes mean no place to compost leaves in some neighborhoods
- if the work were continued with private contractors, it could potentially cost much more than the cost to the town - an amount in taxes we already pay
from the article: Quote:Mr. Mahoney said he had spoken with Mr. Barber about educating the lakes associations about how to manage their leaves in the future.
“This is not a huge problem,” he said. “The lakes associations can bid this work out and handle it on their own.”
but earlier in the article, Mr. Ripperger said
Quote:“The whole process has gotten to be a real problem,” said Mr. Ripperger. “It is time-consuming and expensive.
We are hopeful that the town will recognize that it is a problem. If it is an issue now with one agency in charge, it will become even more of a problem if 7 or more lakes and multiple associations have to figure out how to do this on their own.
Also, the Lewisboro Lakes Committee, a town board subcommittee, was not consulted about this decision. Part of the mission statement of the Lakes Committee is: Quote:Providing education to the residents of the Town, the Town Board, Town Highway Department, and other town committees or Boards relative to improving and protecting the lakes.
The town and highway department have the economies of scale that 7 or more separate lake associations cannot match. Perhaps the town and the associations can come up with a more efficient way to get this all done for less money.
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