Sioux Falls to residents: Keep trash out of sight
Some garbage haulers are worried a proposed change to keep trash bins out of sight will mean more customers forgetting to put them out on collection day.
The Sioux Falls City Council will vote this month on an ordinance that would require residents to keep trash cans hidden — either inside, behind or beside a structure.
“Everybody is so busy. They don’t remember when garbage day is,” said Cindy Neuroth, vice president and co-owner D&C Solid Waste and a member of the city’s Solid Waste Planning Board.
Landfill superintendent Dave McElroy said the proposal is in response to concerns brought to the Solid Waste Planning Board last year by a resident, John LaVergne.
“To me, it’s just a vote on city aesthetics,” LaVergne said Monday, standing in his driveway in southwest Sioux Falls.
Since haulers started providing containers and “they’re not ours anymore,” he said he’s noticed all across town people no longer keep their trash cans inside.
McElroy said his department gets several similar complaints a year from people who don’t like the sight of their neighbor’s trash bins.
Mark Liepha, a Cathedral neighborhood resident, said he keeps his trash cans near his garage, but he said he doesn’t like the city dictating where the cans must go as if it were a gated community.
“There’s not a lot of space in people’s garages,” he said. “Then people forget and get frustrated.”
Haulers in Sioux Falls already have to go up to the house to collect cans and put them back, but they won’t be searching inside your garage or behind your house.
That would take too much time, said Johnn Cressman, owner of Cressman Sanitation. His drivers make 400 to 500 stops a day. Having to hunt for cans would require more drivers, more time and more fuel.
“Like any business in the world, we would have to raise our prices,” he said.
The current ordinance doesn’t specify where containers should be stored, only that they should be in an “inconspicuous” spot.
“You’re still going to see garbage cans,” McElroy said. The idea is to keep them from being the first thing people see.
The ordinance might not be as easy to follow for dwellers in condominiums or townhouses, many of which have small garages and no side yards.
“There just isn’t a place,” Councilor Greg Jamison said.
Apartment houses are different. Already, the city requires apartments to have screened areas for their trash.
Solid waste board member Merle Wollman said it’s difficult to make one policy that covers so many different types of property. He represents multifamily housing on the board and voted against the ordinance last fall.
McElroy said exceptions would be made in some cases.
The City Council heard from one resident last week with concerns about finding a place to store the bins. Jamison hopes that the city can allow some compromise.
“I don’t want the garbage police going around looking at garbage cans,” he said, but he agrees that finding a better place for the bins can make the community look nicer.
When a complaint comes in, the city would send a letter notifying the resident of the violation. If the resident doesn’t comply, a more formal citation process would go through the city’s code enforcement office. As with other administrative code citations, violators would be subject to a $100 fine on their first offense.
The solid waste board approved the garbage container ordinance on a 5-3-3 vote in November. The board is made of city landfill and waste officials, representatives of garbage haulers and recycling companies, citizen representatives and representatives of the other counties and communities that use the city’s landfill.
The rules would apply only to residents within city limits. Three solid waste board members from outside communities abstained from the vote.
The changes were discussed last week with the City Council. The council has its first formal reading of the proposed ordinance today. A vote and time for public comment is expected to be on the schedule for June 17.
The ordinance also would limit the size of garbage and recycling containers to 125 gallons for single-family homes.
New rules also would be imposed with use of dumpsters for construction debris. The project must have the appropriate building permit or the dumpster may not be on site longer than 30 days.
If approved, the rules probably would take effect in July.
Proposed changes for trash bins
• Residential containers cannot be stored in front of a home or garage, expect on garbage day
• Garbage and recycling containers must be kept inside, beside or behind the structure or in a screened or enclosed area
• Residential containers must be kept within 3 feet of a structure at all times, except in an alleyway. Containers should not be placed at the curbside at any time.
• Garbage and recycling containers should be no bigger than 125 gallons for a single family home
• Dumpsters for construction debris can be placed only at sites with an appropriate building permit
• Dumpsters for property cleanup do not require a building permit, but they cannot be on site for more than 30 days