GLOVERSVILLE – The Common Council’s blight committee will suggest changes to a proposed new trash pickup law and other recently proposed new laws after hearing negative feedback from property owners.
Mayor Dayton King said the blight committee met April 29 to review the ordinances and propose changes, especially to the garbage pickup law, which people complained about at an April 26 council meeting.
The council delayed voting on seven ordinance changes at the April 26 meeting, which included a public hearing on the measures.
The proposed trash pickup law requires garbage be placed in trash cans no larger than 32 gallons. Each building would be allowed up to four 32-gallon trash cans, which must have lids. Owners who need more than four would be charged $120 per additional trash receptacle.
Those who disobey the rule would receive a notice they have a week to remedy the situation. The building owners would be subject to $50 fines for non-compliance.
Blight committee member and 3rd Ward Councilman Vince DeSantis said the committee determined it should get rid of the requirement for lids and allow up to eight 48-gallon trash receptacles per building.
“We want to make it easy for people. We don’t want to make it too restrictive,” he said. “Based on the concerns we heard, we just wanted to relax it a little bit.”
Regarding another proposed new law, DeSantis said the committee determined it would get rid of a requirement prohibiting the accumulation of organic matter on lawns. He said the restriction could mean people couldn’t have certain types of mulch or would not be allowed to leave grass clippings on their lawns.
DeSantis said the committee also decided to change a proposal that would require people to clear a 36-inch-wide path on sidewalks within 24 hours after a snowfall. He said the width requirement should be reduced to 24 inches to accommodate snowbanks and other property issues.
DeSantis said a proposal requiring people to fix damaged sidewalks within 72 hours was changed to “a reasonable amount of time.
“We understand that people may need to hire contractors, and we want to accommodate that,” DeSantis said.
King said he doesn’t want the regulations getting to the point where people have difficulty throwing out trash, but he said rules are necessary.
“We don’t want the city looking like a mess. We also don’t want to have it become a dumping ground if we’re too liberal on stuff,” King said.
King said he is considering making changes to the city’s bulk pickup system after discussions with city employees.
Currently, each ward gets a monthly bulk pickup starting with Ward 1 this month. He said by the time Ward 6 gets its bulk pickup in November, it’s so late that there is the risk of snow. He said he would be amenable to changing the ward schedule and hiring two more people during the summer to help with pickup.
The city will schedule a hearing on the blight committee’s changes to the proposed ordinances.
The city proposed changes to other ordinances, which were presented at the April hearing.
King said some of the new ordinance measures that will not be changed may be adopted at Tuesday’s council meeting.
