Borough commissioners approved an ordinance on first reading at their Oct. 27 meeting about placement of leaves. The ordinance is a clarification for residents on where leaves can appropriately be placed.
“This is really just to clarify the previous ordinance on leaf placement because we get questions every year. Really, what we want people to do is to place the leaves as close to the street as they can, without being in the street … and not on the sidewalk,” Commissioner John Moscatelli said.
The ordinance previously stated that yard waste, including leaves, that is not containerized at the curb or along the street is only allowed during the seven days prior to a scheduled and announced collection, and shall not be placed closer than 10 feet from any storm drain inlet.
The new ordinance omits the line stating “or along the streets” and adds that “yard waste cannot be placed in the public street and/or public sidewalk and shall be placed for pickup in a location as close to the public street as practicable.”
Having leaves in the street is a storm water violation.
“So if you have a park strip, put them on the park strip. If your sidewalk is right up against the curb, put it on the other side of the sidewalk and the public works guys will rake them up,” Moscatelli said.
The public hearing and second reading of the ordinance will be at the next commissioners meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m.
In other news:
• October was named Dinosaur Month. In October 1858, a crew of local diggers led by Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences member William Foulke excavated a nearly-complete skeleton of a prehistoric dinosaur, Hadrosaurus Foulkii, on the Haddonfield farm of John Estaugh Hopkins. The dinosaur discovery site, which was officially marked by Eagle Scout Christopher Brees in 1984, maintained by his father, Butch Brees, and declared a national historic landmark in 1994, continues to attract more than 1,000 visits each year. This month marks the 157th anniversary of the finding and excavation of the Hadrosaurus Foulkii.
• Commissioners created a committee to develop an initiative called “Complete Streets Program” that will identify ideas and opportunities to make streets safer and include accommodations for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users and the mobility impaired. The committee will make recommendations to commissioners on policies and programs for Haddonfield’s Complete Streets Program. This policy will help the borough qualify for grant funding and will support the borough’s continued certification in the Sustainable Jersey Program.
• Commissioners authorized the borough to offer free parking to shoppers in the downtown area from Friday, Nov. 27 to Friday, Dec. 25, with the exception of the hours of 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., on Kings Highway from Grove Street/Potter Street to the Port Authority Transit Corp. bridge Monday through Friday.
