Public Hearing Tuesday about Proposed Change to Village Landscaping Law

, , the Lindenhurst Village Board will hold a about a proposed change to a law pertaining to who work in the Village.

It's set for at to discuss a proposed law that would require to take bags filled with grass clippings, leaves and other lawn waste generated from the homes they service in the Village with them instead of leaving them by the curb.

"There's no other change to the law. We already require licenses and permits for landscapers doing business in Lindenhurst already, much the same way we do for taxi cabs," Village Administrator Shawn Cullinane said.

"This isn't a new idea. The town of Islip does this, [for example]," Cullinane continued. "The point of changing the law is to keep the streets in a more orderly fashion. We pick up on Wednesdays. What if a landscaper drops off a bunch of bags at 2 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. Then they sit for five days."

And that, he explained, could invite vandalism or animals, which is something the Village is trying to avoid with this proposed change to the law.

"We want to be proactive, and get landscapers to be proactive, in keeping the streets a littler cleaner," he said.

Some residents and readers of Lindenhurst Patch have asked on Facebook and how the Village could tell the difference between a homeowner leaving bags out and a landscaper, concerned that they could be penalized for having too many bags.

Cullinane assured that the Village can tell. "A homeowner will typically have one or two bags, not a noticeably larger bunch of bags."

And by noticeably he means maybe 10 or 20, representing the lawn waste of multiple homes. Cullinane said the Village has had reports from homeowners and Department of Public Works employees who do trash pick-up about landscapers dumping bags filled with grass clippings and leaves in front of homes and other properties. However, he said, those reports are hard to prove.

Hence, the proposed change to the law, which, if it passes, would be enforced by homeowner complaint, for now, according to Cullinane.

"We'll see if it's followed, like most other local laws, voluntarily," Cullinane said. "Then we'll see if we only need it enforced by registering complaints with the Village, or if Code Enforcement would need to patrol to enforce it."

The proposed change to the law also doesn't have any new fees associated with it, Cullinane assured.

However, Bernadette Reyes of , a landscaping company located on Grand Avenue in Lindenhurst, disagrees with the proposed change and disagrees with the characterization that there would be no new associated fees.

She feels it's "selective enforcement of the law" and, therefore, "unconstitutional."

Reyes, who'll be at the hearing tonight, told Lindenhurst Patch this week that, "Homeowners already pay for [Village] removal through their taxes, so now they'll be actually getting double-charged - one price to cut the lawn and another to remove the waste."

Her opinion of the proposed law played into some of the Lindenhurst Patch reader feedback the received about tonight's public hearing - that if landscapers are asked to take lawn waste with them, then the cost of removal could be passed along to homeowners in the form of increased fees for landscaping services.

When asked about additional fees that might be passed along to Village homeowners as a result of the proposed law change, Cullinane said that he didn't think so, but that's between the homeowners and landscapers.

"We have no control lover that," he said. "But there are no new proposed fees with this proposed law."

However, if people are concerned, then Cullinane encourgaed them to attend the hearing tonight.

"That's why we hold public hearings - to give people their say," he said.

Rick Karas contributed to this story.