perry logoThe option to burn those leaves and sticks you rake up in your yard may be a thing of the past for Perry residents after this year.

The City Council set fall yard waste burning dates and procedures at their meeting Monday, and this season residents only have a three-week window to burn the materials rather than two months like they have before.

City Administrator Sven Peterson explains why the dates of October 31st through November 22nd were chosen.

“With that we’re hoping to miss Beggar’s Night with the kids out so they won’t have to deal with the smoke.  There may be some dangerous situations with smoke crossing the streets and such.  And then we wanted it to be done before the Thanksgiving holiday.  With everybody in town, maybe they’ll be in the backyard cooking or something, we just wanted our residents to be able to enjoy that time with their families outside if they chose to do so.”

Council members, the mayor and police chief have all expressed concern with yard waste burning, primarily relating to health effects.

So if you’re someone who burns yard waste, take advantage of the opportunity to do so this fall because it will be banned in the spring, which Peterson says has several benefits.

“It also really helps us with the street department in the spring too because we spend several weeks, if not months, in the spring running our street sweeper around and picking up all the leaves that have blown into the gutters and that’s part of the issue that causes storm sewers to back up and flood some of the streets.”

As a reminder, the city does offer free yard waste pickup on Wednesdays.  For more information call 465-2481.

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