Politics & Government

Brush and Debris Clean Up Planned for Town, Village

Southold Town and Greenport will pick up curbside brush and debris from Hurricane Sandy — but the process will take a while, officials say.

The Southold Town transfer station in Cutchogue is now accepting yard debris left behind during Hurricane Sandy, free-of-charge, and both town and Greenport Village workers have begun picking up the debris curbside. But due to very limited assistance from Long Island Power Authority crews, curbside pickup might take a while, according to Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell.

“Right now there is only one crew of three with one bucket truck,” the supervisor said this week at a special town board meeting, adding that Southold Town Highway Superintendent Peter Harris and his crews can only do so much clean up before down power lines are fixed and cleared. “Right now they’re still in a line clearing mode not a regeneration mode.”

The board agreed to approve overtime for Southold Highway workers in order to clear debris as quickly as possible for those who are unable to cart the debris to the landfill. Russell said that the town doesn’t necessarily have the money in the budget at the moment, but he was confident that reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency would come in sooner than those from Tropical Storm Irene last year — the town is still waiting for those reimbursements, Russell said.

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“But I don’t think we have a choice — we don’t know how the weather will play out,” said. Councilman William Ruland. “It could snow at any time, so we have to get this cleaned up. What people should know though that a curbside pickup will cost them, either through taxes or by paying for a private carter — and that this is going to take time.”

The board also discussed waiving fees for building permits for those fixing damage to their houses. Councilwoman Louisa Evans, who was on conference call at the meeting, said that there was little damage to homes on Fishers Island.

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Russell also thanked superintendents of local schools for their efforts in coordinating emergency shelters at the schools during the storm.

Southold Town released these instructions re: brush pick up Friday morning: 

"All limbs and branches must be no greater than 10’ in length and all leaves must be placed in brown paper biodegradable bags. Construction materials, landclearing, household debris/trash and marine debris will not be accepted. Please be patient and once an area has been cleared, the crews will not return."


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