Street Sweeping on Long Island: Understanding Current Practices

Street Sweeping on Long Island: Understanding Current Practices

National Center for Suburban Studies ® Hofstra University

The National Center for Suburban Studies is pleased to share this report: Street Sweeping on Long Island: Understanding Current Practices.

Street sweeping has become one of the most important tools for managing storm water quality throughout the United States.

How we manage street sweeping in our villages impacts storm water pollution, waste management, and, of course, government budgets.

While street sweeping is largely thought of as an urban issue, the number of suburban roadways regularly swept throughout the United States is staggering. Each day, fleets of street sweepers drive the suburban roads and cul de sacs of Long Island. Yet how do we manage street sweeping in Long Island? This report provides a starting point for better understanding suburban street sweeping and storm water management. We hope that this project will be of use as we find ways to solve the vexing problem of non-point pollution on Long Island.

Lawrence Levy, Executive Dean Authors Robert Brinkmann, Director of Sustainability Research, National Center for Suburban Studies, Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability Sandra Garren Department of Geology, Environment and Sustainability Keshanti Nandlall, Research Assistant National Center for Suburban Studies Lauren D’Orsa, Research Assistant National Center for Suburban Studies Kevin Bisceglia Department of Chemistry Margaret Hunter School of Engineering and Applied

Purpose Storm water pollution is a significant problem throughout the world. On Long Island, there is particular concern about nutrients that are carried via storm water in our waterways. In recent years, numerous beaches and shellfish grounds have been closed due to pollution caused, in part, by non-point pollution carried by storm water. Of special concern is nutrient pollution caused by fertilizers, animals waste, and decaying organic matter.

How can we solve our storm water pollution problems?

Several strategies have been adapted including reducing and limiting fertilizer use, improving storm water infrastructure to prevent untreated stormwater from entering waterways, and the development of green infrastructure such as the use of permeable pavement and rain gardens. Street sweeping is an alternative approach that is often used to try to reduce storm water pollution. In some settings, street sweeping has been shown to reduce some pollutant loadings by 40%.

We really do not know how street sweeping is managed across Long Island. It was the goal of this project to survey Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk Counties) local governments to ascertain their street sweeping practices. We also sought to better understand how local governments manage their data related to street sweeping or water quality. We also offered a workshop on street sweeping management. However, no village RSVP’d and this report serves as our outreach to villages.

Study Site and Methods Due to the important local control of street sweeping in villages, we focused our survey on ascertaining street sweeping practices within local villages. Thus, the study site for the project included all of the villages in Nassau and Suffolk Counties in Long Island.

Long Island has a government structure that is very complex due to the many municipalities it contains. Within Long Island, there are two counties; Nassau and Suffolk. These two counties are consisted of cities, towns, villages, hamlets, and census designated places.

Nassau County is the only county within Long Island that has cities. These two cities are the City of Glen Cove and the City of Long Beach. Outside of the cities, there are three towns: Hempstead, North Hempstead, and Oyster Bay. The Town of Hempstead contains 22 villages: Atlantic Beach, Bellerose, Cedarhurst, East Rockaway, Freeport, Garden City, Hempstead, Hewlett Bay Park, Hewlett Harbor, Hewlett Neck, Island Park, Lawrence, Lynbrook, Malverne, Rockville Centre, South Floral Park, Stewart Manor, Valley Stream, and Woodsburgh. In addition, it contains 35 hamlets: Baldwin, Baldwin Harbor, Barnum Island, Bay Park, Bellerose Terrace, Bellmore, East Atlantic Beach, East Garden City, East Meadow, Elmont, Franklin Square, Garden City South, Harbor Isle, Hewlett, Inwood, Lakeview, Levittown, Lido Beach, Malverne Park Oaks, Merrick, North Bellmore, North Merrick, North Valley Stream, North Wantagh, North Woodmere, Oceanside, Point Lookout, Roosevelt, Salisbury (South Westbury), Seaford, South Hempstead, South Valley Stream, Uniondale, Wantagh, West Hempstead, and Woodmere.

The Town of North Hempstead contains 24 villages: Baxter Estates, East Williston, Flower Hill, Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kensington, Kings Point, Lake Success, Manorhaven, Munsey Park, North Hills, Plandome, Plandome Heights, Plandome Manor, Port Washington North, Roslyn, Roslyn Estates, Russell Gardens, Saddle Rock, Sands Point, Thomaston, Westbury, and Williston Park; and 16 hamlets: Albertson, Carle Place, Garden City Park, Glenwood Landing, Great Neck Gardens, Greenvale, Harbor Hills, Herricks, Manhasset, New Cassel, North New Hyde Park, Port Washington, Roslyn Heights, Saddle Rock Estates, Searingtown, and University Gardens.

Lastly, the Town of Oyster Bay contains 18 villages: Bayville, Brookville, Centre Island, Cove Neck, Farmingdale, Lattingtown, Laurel Hollow, Massapequa Park, Matinecock, Mill Neck, Muttontown, Old Brookville, Oyster Bay Cove, Sea Cliff, and Upper Brookville; and 18 hamlets: Bethpage, East Massapequa, East Norwich, Glen Head, Glenwood Landing, Greenvale, Hicksville, Jericho, Locust Valley, Massapequa, North Massapequa, Old Bethpage, Oyster Bay, Plainedge, Plainview, South Farmingdale, Syosset, and Woodbury.

Suffolk County consists of ten towns: Babylon, Huntington, Islip, Smithtown, Brookhaven, Southampton, Riverhead, East Hampton, Shelter Island, and Southold.

The Town of Babylon has three villages: Amityville, Babylon, and Lindenhurst; and 12 hamlets: Copiague, Copiague Harbor, Deer Park, East Farmingdale, Gilgo, North Amityville, North Babylon, North Lindenhurst, Oak Beach & Captree, West Babylon, Wheatley Heights, and Wyandanch.

The Town of Huntington consists of four villages: Asharoken, Huntington Bay, Lloyd Harbor, and Northport; and 14 hamlets: Centerport, Cold Spring Harbor, Dix Hills, East Northport, Eatons Neck, Elwood, Greenlawn, Halesite, Huntington, Huntington Station, Melville, South Huntington, Vernon Valley, and West Hills.

The Town of Islip has three villages: Brightwaters, Islandia, Ocean Beach, and Saltaire; and 18 hamlets: Bay Shore, Bayport, Baywood, Bohemia, Brentwood, Central Islip, East Islip, Great River, Hauppauge, Islip, Islip Ter-

race, North Bay Shore, North Great River, Oakdale, Sayville, West Bay Shore, West Islip, and West Sayville.

The Town of Smithtown contains three villages: Head of the Harbor, Nissequogue, and Village of the Branch; and four hamlets: Kings Park, Nesconset, Smithtown, and St. James.

The Town of Brookhaven is home to nine villages: Belle Terre, Bellport, Lake Grove, Old Field, Mastic Beach, Patchogue, Poquott, Port Jefferson, and Shoreham; and many hamlets: Blue Point, Brookhaven, Canaan Lake, Centereach, Center Moriches, Cherry Grove, Coram, Crystal Brook, Cupsogue Beach, Davis Park, East Moriches, East Patchogue, East Setauket, East Shoreham, Farmingville, Fire Island Pines, Gordon Heights, Hagerman, Manorville, Mastic, Medford, Middle Island, Miller Place, Moriches, Mount Sinai, North Bellport, North Patchogue, Ocean Bay Park, Point of Woods, Port Jefferson Station, Ridge, Rocky Point, Selden, Setauket, Shirley, South Haven, Sound Beach, Stony Brook, Strongs Neck, Terryville, Upton, Water Island, West Manor, and Yaphank.

The Town of South Hampton has 6 villages: North Haven, Quogue, Sagaponack, Southampton (village), Westhampton Beach, and West Hampton Dunes; and 15 hamlets: Bridgehampton, East Quogue, Flanders, Hampton Bays, Northampton, North Sea, Noyack (Noyac), Quioque (Quiogue), Remsenburg, Riverside, Shinnecock Hills, Speonk, Tuckahoe, Water Mill (Watermill), and Westhampton.

The Town of Riverhead doesn’t have any villages and has only five hamlets: Aquebogue, Baiting Hollow, Jamesport, Northville, and Riverhead.

The Town of East Hampton only contains the village of East Hampton and the four hamlets: Amagansett, Montauk, Springs, and Wainscott.

The Town of Shelter Island has the village of Dering Harbor and the hamlet of Shelter Island Heights.

Lastly, the Town of Southold contains the village of Greenport, and the hamlets of Cutchogue, East Marion, Fishers Island, Laurel, Mattituck, Orient, New Suffolk, Peconic, and Southold.

Fire Island is considered a part of Suffolk County, although it is not a town.

As you can see, Long Island has a very intricate local government structure. As a result of this, policy varies along Long Island and not every municipality focuses on the same issues. This causes a variation of data and statistics and can also affect the environmental factors of Long Island.

A survey was developed by the research team using Survey Monkey, an online survey tool. It was sent to all village clerks and local officials in towns and cities on Long Island who have a responsibility for managing street sweeping. If a response was not received, the team followed up with three email and one phone reminders. Together, out of 91 total survey requests a total of 45 responses were received, which accounted for approximately a 50 percent response rate. This rate is considered quite good for this type of research. Of the respondents, some did not answer all the questions. The data presented in this response includes only information for those villages that responded to the survey. We kept village names anonymous in this study and we believe that in most cases, village clerks or other officials responsible for street sweeping management responded to the survey.

“A survey was developed by the research team using Survey Monkey, an online survey tool. It was sent to all village clerks and local officials in towns and cities on Long Island who have a responsibility for managing street sweeping.”

Survey Questions 1. Does your village or local government maintain environmental or planning records using a Geographic Information System (GIS)? If so, are the records housed in your village or an outside organization like a consulting firm, university, or other government agency? If an outside organization is used, name it.

2. Are records on cesspools, sewers, and storm water management housed in your village or an outside organization?

If you use an outside organization, please name it.

3. Does your village prepare and submit your MS4 storm water permits or do you contract them out?

4. Do you manage your own street sweeping or do you contract it out?

5. Why does your Village sweep streets?

6. How often do you sweep streets? Example responses: once a week, three times a month, four times a year.

7. Do you vary your street sweeping schedule by land use? In other words, do you sweep some areas more frequently than others? What are the reasons? Please be as detailed as possible and describe the variation in schedule.

8. On what date or event do you start sweeping streets in the spring?

9. On what date or event do you stop sweeping streets in the fall/winter?

10. Are there any special times when you do special street sweeping such as during leaf falls or parades? Please briefly describe any of these special uses.

11. If you manage your own street sweeping operations, how many street sweepers do you own? What is their brand and type (rotary brush, vacuum, combined, other)?

12. What happens to the waste that is generated from sweeping the streets?

13. Are the street sweeper drivers trained about the reasons why street sweeping is done in your community? If so briefly describe the training.

14. Are street sweepers maintained regularly? If so, how is this verified?

15. Have there been any special issues related to street sweeping in your community such as noise, dust, waste, or costs? Please describe.

16. Approximately how much does it cost your community to sweep streets every year?

17. How important is street sweeping to people in your community (with 1 being not important to 10 being very important)?

18. Is there anything you’d like to add about street sweeping in your community?

Survey Questions

Question 1. Does your village or local government maintain envi-

ronmental or planning records using a Geographic Information System (GIS)? If so, are the records housed in your village or an outside organization like a consulting firm, university, or other government agency?

Type of Response

Does the Village Use GIS for the Maintenance of Environmental or Planning Records?

Unknown N/A Yes No 0

5

10 # of Responses

15

20

Most local governments did not use GIS (Geographic information systems) for their record keeping. Less than 10 governments use GIS. This limits the ability of local governments to share information with other organizations to facilitate a regional response to pollution control. It also highlights the problem with overall spatial information management within local governments on Long Island.

Survey Questions

Question 2.Are records on cesspools, sewers, and storm water management housed in your village or an outside organization?

Place Where Records are Housed

Where are the Records Housed?

N/A

Both

Outside Organization

In-­‐House 0

5

10 15 # of Responses

20

Important environmental records are mainly kept in-house for local governments on Long Island. Since most local governments do not maintain a GIS system, the records are either in paper or basic electronic (Word or Excell) formats.

Survey Questions

Question 3.Does your village prepare and submit your MS4 storm water permits or do you contract them out?

Does Village Prepare and Submit MS4 S.W. Permits?

4 2 14

No Exempt/ N/A Yes, In-­‐House Yes, Contract it Out

11

Roughly half of Long Island’s local governments contract out MS4 (stormwater) permits and the other half complete them in-house.

Survey Questions

Question 4. Do you manage your own street sweeping or do you contract it out?

Slightly more local governments on Long Island contract out their street sweeping operations.

List of Major Contracting Firms

Name of Contracting Firm

Not Consistent Elite Contracting Town of Oyster Bay IMA w/ Town of Southampton NCS Leasing Corporation Town of Hempstead A-­‐1 Sewer Town of Brookhaven Town of Islip Dejana Industries 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 # of Towns Who Employ Contractors

Those that contract out street sweeping work with nine different organizations on Long Island.

The largest organization responsible for street sweeping contracts is Dejana Industries.

Survey Questions

Question 5. Why does your local government sweep streets?

Roughly half of the local governments sweep streets for the cleanliness of the community. Those that said they swept streets for other reasons stated that street sweeping was done for all of the choices listed. Interestingly, no local government specifically chose the option “required by law” as a reason.

Survey Questions

Question 6. How often do you sweep streets? Example responses: once a week, three times a month, four times a year.

Increments of Time Streets are Swept

How Often Does Your Community Sweep Streets

As necessary daily Weekly Monthly 2x a year or more 1x a year 0

1

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A total of 30 percent of local governments sweep streets weekly, while another 30 percent sweep 2 times a year or more. A total of 26 percent of local governments sweep streets once a year, while the remainder provided other answers. These responses show a tremendous variability in sweeping schedule across the island.

Survey Questions

Question 7. Do you vary your street sweeping schedule by land use? In other words, do you sweep some areas more frequently than others? What are the reasons? Please be as detailed as possible and describe the variation in schedule.

# of Responses per Answer

Do you vary your street sweeping schedule by land use?

25 20 15 10 5 0

Yes No N/A Skipped Common Answers to the Variance of Street Sweeping Schedules

A total of 20 of the local governments stated that they do not vary their street sweeping schedule by land use. For those that replied “Yes,” the most cited reason for doing so is because of trash accumulation within the business districts.

Survey Questions

Question 8. On what date or event do you start sweeping streets in the spring?

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# of Responses

On what date or event do you start sweeping streets in the spring?

Date/Event

The majority of local governments (42%) start street sweeping based on the weather, usually when the last frost has passed. A quarter of the local governments start street sweeping in April at the end of the snowy season.

Survey Questions

Question 9. On what date or event do you stop sweeping streets in the fall/ winter?

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# of Responses

On what date or event do you stop sweeping streets in the fall/winter?

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Most (22%) of local governments stop street sweeping in October, while 19% of local governments stop street sweeping when the first snowfall or winter arrives. Another 22 percent of local governments responded with “not applicable,” due to the fact that they focus on sweeping streets throughout the year, weather permitting.

Survey Questions

Question 10. Are there any special times when you do special street sweeping such as during leaf falls or parades? Please briefly describe any of these special uses.

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# of Responses

Are there any special times when you do special street sweeping such as during leaf falls or parades?

Special Time

Just over half (about 55 percent) of local governments have no special events in which they sweep streets. About 16 percent of local villages sweep streets during the leaf season. Some villages swept after street fairs and parades.

Survey Questions

Question 11. If you manage your own street sweeping operations, how

many street sweepers do you own? What is their brand and type (rotary brush, vacuum, combined, other)?

If you manage your own street sweeping operations, how many street sweepers do you own? # of Responses

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Approximately 39 percent of local governments noted that they do not own their own street sweepers, while 19 percent skipped this question. This is believed to be due to their use of contracting street sweepers. The remainder of the responses varied by number with the most common street sweepers used being the Tymco Vacuums and the Rotary Brush.

Survey Questions

Question 12. What happens to the waste that is generated from sweeping the streets?

Most of the waste generated from street sweeping in the local governments is either taken to a waste processing facility or the contractor disposes of it.

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What happens to the waste that is generated from sweeping the streets?

14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

Survey Questions

Question 13. Are the street sweeper drivers trained about the reasons why street sweeping is done in your community? If so briefly describe the trai

Are the street sweeper drivers trained about the reasons why street sweeping is done in your community?

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# of Responses

10 8 6 4 2 0

Yes

No Unknown Are the Drivers Trained?

N/A

A little over a fifth of the drivers are trained about the importance of street sweeping in the community. The remainder of the local governments do not know whether or not the drivers are trained, mainly due to the contracting of street sweepers from outside sources.

Most street sweeper operators are not trained on the significance of street sweeping in protecting storm water.

Survey Questions

Quest

ion 14. Are street sweepers maintained regularly? If so, how is this verified?

Are street sweepers maintained regularly?

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# of Responses

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

Yes

No N/A Maintained Regularly

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Over half of the local governments say that their street sweepers are regularly maintained and this is verified by the local government themselves or by the contractors.

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Survey Questions

Question 15. Have there been any special issues related to street sweeping in your community such as noise, dust, waste, or costs? Please describe.

Have there been any special issues related to street sweeping in your community such as noise, dust, waste, or costs?

# of Responses

25 20 15 10 5 0

Yes

No

N/A

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by Town Special Issues Related to Street Sweeping

Most communities do not have any special issues related to street sweeping. Those that have identified issues note challenges withdust, noise, cost, and timing as issues.

Special Issues Related to Street Sweeping 3

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Survey Questions

Question 16. Approximately how much does it cost your community to sweep streets every year?

Approximately how much does it cost your community to sweep streets every year?

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Cost The annual cost for managing street sweeping in the villages varies tremendously from $1000 to $320,000.

Survey Questions

Question 17. How important is street sweeping to people in your community (with 1 being not important to 10 being very important)?

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How important is street sweeping to people in your community?

(1 = not important; 10 = very important)

# of Responses

12 10 8 6 4 2 0

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Using a scale of 1 to 10, most villages rated street sweeping as important. Indeed, twelve of the respondents rated it as a 10. Clearly, villages on Long Island fully recognize the significance of street sweeping in their communities.

Survey Questions

Question 18. Is there anything you’d like to add about street sweeping in your community?

Individual responses: Since the survey is asking how much sweeping costs, it should also ask for how many center line miles of road.

Village use to use its own equipment and manpower for street sweeping but switched to private contractors because of tremendous cost savings in labor, equipment, and insurance.

We take street sweeping very seriously, not only for the aesthetic benefits but for environmental best practices and the requirements of our MS4 permit to help keep pollutants out of the surrounding surface waters. Oils, road salt, and other pollutants that end up on streets are picked up by the sweeper and are not washed out in the stormwater system as much with our constant sweeping. Without street sweeping, they often end up in delicate wetlands. We have filters on our street catch basins as well which are regularly maintained to catch debris and other pollutants. Noise pollution can be problematic from the sweeper, but we have recently upgraded our sweeper and it has been cut dramatically through better equipment design. Air quality improvements can also be significant. The equipment has gotten better at keeping noise down and controlling fine particulates that in the past were blown into the air where they might be inhaled by humans. More municipalities should do sweeping more often, but we understand the cost considerations, especially if it is an outside Residents of Villages are very attuned to the sweeping schedule. If our sweepers are not hitting certain streets at certain times we receive call questioning why the sweeper is not there yet. To our residents/taxpayers it seems that street sweeping is a very obvious way for them to see their tax dollars in action and they want to see it.

It’s very important to the operation at this DPW. We just implemented a regular program. Before it was haphazard.

We sweep the Village streets once a year after winter snow sanding. Otherwise, leaves and brush are picked up by the Village Handyman or a private Contractor.

Conclusions

The survey of Long Island villages within Nassau and Suffolk County on current street sweeping practices resulted in interesting results that will prove to be useful in understanding how best to move forward in improving strategies for the future. We received a 50% response rate on the survey which is considered a strong survey result for this type of research. Some of the key findings are: • Villages do not use GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to maintain spatial environmental data. This limits the ability of villages to provide clear spatial information to citizens and other stakeholders on environmental issues in the jurisdiction. Most villages maintain records on cesspools, sewers, and storm water management on paper or electronically in house.

• Most villages prepare and submit their own MS4 storm water permit reports or contract them out to consulting firms.

• Interestingly, just over half of all villages contract out street sweeping operations. While there are several different sweeping firms, Dejana Industries is the most commonly used street sweeping firm used by villages that contract it out.

• Most villages sweep streets to keep communities clean. Only a few villages identified protection of surface water as a reason to sweep streets. This is striking since street sweeping is a component of the MS4 permitting process.

• There is tremendous variety in how often communities sweep streets. Roughly 1/4 of all villages sweep only once each year. However, the same number sweep weekly. Some villages sweep daily. There is no clear strategy that is used widely across the island.

• While most major cities vary street sweeping based on land use, only four villages on about 1/4 of villages vary sweeping due to land use--mainly due to the accumulation of trash in the central business districts.

• Most villages start sweeping based on the weather--often associated with the spring thaw. They stop sweeping in the winter once the snow and ice return.

• A few villages conduct special sweeping events for leaf falls, after storms, and after parades or fairs.

• Most villages own one street sweeper (usually rotary brush or vacuum sweepers) or contract out street sweeping. The maintenance is recorded in logs.

• Waste that is generated by street sweeping is taken to a waste processing site.

• A few villages noted special problems with street sweeping including dust and noise associated with street sweeping operations.

• The costs of village street sweeping varies tremendously from $1,000 to $320,000 per year.

• Street sweeping is very important to village stakeholders.

“Greater training should be provided to villages by state, county, and town officials on the importance of road maintenance (including street sweeping) on reducing stormwater pollution.”

Recommendations We have identified several key recommendations from this study.

1. Since most villages do not clearly link street sweeping with water protection, greater emphasis on this issue needs to be made. Webinars, written material, and “best practices” information should be made available to village clerks and street sweeper operators.

2. Most villages do not have access to GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software or data.

Efforts must be made to coordinate the integration of environmental records maintained by villages within a regional GIS system. This is not done at the town or county levels. Some outside organization should assist villages with this initiative.

3. Most street sweeping waste is taken (appropriately) to waste transfer centers. However, many communities have developed ways to recycle or reuse street sweeping. Efforts should be made to identify whether or not street sweeping waste contains any harmful pollutants so that best management strategies can be used in managing the material.

4. The schedule of street sweeping varies considerably across Long Island. Some communities have studies the best schedule that can be utilized to reduce storm water pollution (Tampa for example). Research should be done to determine the most effective schedule for street sweeping for Long Island’s unique climatological regime.

5. Since roughly half of the villages contract out street sweeping operations, there are opportunities to work with contracting firms to develop best practices.

6. A number of different types of street sweepers are in use across Long Island. Research should be conducted to assess the maintenance and effectiveness of these sweepers in reducing stormwater pollution on Long Island.

7. Greater training should be provided to villages by state, county, and town officials on the importance of road maintenance (including street sweeping) on reducing stormwater pollution.