Come January, Sherwood Park residents will no longer have the choice of rear/side yard garbage pickup. While they’re losing a service option, they’re gaining an advantage.
“They’ll have their rates lowered,” said City Manager David Harden.
Delray Beach, served by Waste Management, recommended the conversion after taking a survey of the Sherwood Park and barrier island neighborhoods to determine if they still wanted to receive rear/side yard pickup, which costs more than curbside.
The Sherwood Park neighborhood, between Interstate 95 and off Linton Boulevard, will put its garbage out at the curb starting about Jan. 2. The city plans to drop rear/side yard pickup for barrier island residents in the spring, according to City Manager David Harden.
Lula Butler, director of Community Improvement, said in September that the plan will be coordinated with Waste Management and there will be further discussions with barrier island residents and the Beach Property Owners Association.
The BPOA “tended to prefer what we had before. It’s a cleaner look” because it keeps garbage containers off the curb, said Mary Renaud, president of the group, adding though that the majority rules.
The price difference between rear/side yard and curbside service is nominal, Renaud said.
The total charge to residents who receive rear/side yard pickup is $24.01 a month. The charge for residents with curbside garbage pickup is $13.61 for those with roll-out carts and $10.47 for those with disposable bags.
Rear/side yard pickup was among the complaints that kicked off a city examination of billings and processes associated with garbage collection in 2009.
Robert McNamee, a resident who was investigating the city’s waste and recycling administration and practices, realized residents were charged the higher rear/side yard collection fee even if they took their refuse to the curb.
One of the 2010 recommendations from the city examination was that residents in the rear/side yard service areas should be given the chance to choose whether they wanted to keep the service at a higher cost. Regardless of what kind of garbage service residents have, they are all required to bring recycling containers to the curb, according to a memo to commissioners from Butler.
In a November 2010 survey of residents, about 61 percent of Sherwood Park respondents favored changing the rear/side yard service, while nearly 40 percent wanted to keep it. Of 170 surveys sent, 73 percent responded.
On the barrier island, nearly 65 percent of survey respondents wanted to change the services, while 35 percent wanted to keep it. Of 870 surveys sent, 62 percent responded.
In addition, staff followed a garbage truck in July 2009 and determined many residents were already putting their waste out at the curbside, according to Butler.
While the poll showed residents favoring the change, Butler said staff also thought cutting out one of Delray’s four residential trash collection options would bring it more in line to the two services other cities typically offer. The four remaining pickups would be curbside pickup with rolling carts; curbside pickup with disposable bags and multifamily unit service.
In September, Butler recommended the changes for Sherwood Park as soon as it could be coordinated with Waste Management. It also recommended further discussion with the Beach Property Owners Association and barrier island residents on service changes that would be effective in March 2012. Ú
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