Community

Loose leaf pickup beginning Nov. 30

leaves_webSick of all those leaves cluttering up your property? Worry not: relief is around the corner.

Starting on Nov. 30, the Riverhead Highway Department will begin picking up piles of loose leaves from local properties.

The pickup is spread over a period of three weeks with each week focusing on a different segment of Riverhead as workers move from east to west.

During the week of Nov. 30, the area from Laurel Lane to Northville Turnpike will be serviced; during the week of Dec. 7, the area from Northville Turnpike to Hulse Landing Road will be serviced; and during the week of Dec. 14, the area from Hulse Landing Road to the Brookhaven Town Line will be serviced.

Residents are instructed to rake their loose leaves into a single curbside pile by 7 a.m. Monday on the week their area is scheduled. The leaves must stay on residential property themselves, and cannot overflow onto the street or into drains. Workers will make one pass in each neighborhood.

A town notice stressed that only residential leaves will be picked up, and landscapers are required to address their own leaves.

For those that wish to rake and bag their leaves, free bags are available from the Highway Department at 1177 Osborne Ave. Bags of leaves are picked up once a week (on either Thursday or Friday, depending on the local yard waste and bulk items collection day) all year round.

Photo caption: Walt Smith, 69, blows leaves in front of his home on East Main Street Thursday afternoon where he has lived his whole life. He says all the leaves in his neighborhood blow into his yard. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)

[email protected]