Iowa City plays catch up with leaf collection after early storm

IOWA CITY — Leaf collection crews were back at it Friday, trying to play catch up after Iowa City suspended the service for last week's snowstorm.

The same trucks used to collect leaves from residential areas each fall are converted to snow plows to clear streets over winter. Trees held on to their leaves longer than normal, and then Iowa City had to abandon the leaf program to cope with an early storm, which dumped 8 inches on Nov. 20-21. Meanwhile, leaves have piled up along curbsides.

'We knew we'd be back out because there's so much still out here,' said Andy Stimmel, who was working Friday on a collection crew.

With a mild forecast this week, the snow melted and maintenance workers spent Monday and Tuesday reassembling two leaf collection systems.

The city has 12 trucks — one per snow plow route — one vehicle as back up, four leaf vacuums, which are mounted on trailers, and one vacuum back up. Each vacuum is paired with two trucks so that an empty truck can continue while the full truck goes to the dump.

It takes about four or five hours per truck to switch from leaves to snow, or vice versa.

The first day back in service was Friday in zone six on Iowa City's east side. Crews are scheduled to collect leaves Saturday also.

City officials will re-evaluate the weather Monday with hopes of making one more pass of the entire city before calling it quits. The city has seven zones, and collection takes about two to three days per zone.

Snow and ice control take priority over leaves, and there are no guarantees leaf collection will be completed.

Stimmel was with a crew of six people. They moved with a truck, trailer and 200-horsepower leaf vacuum through Iowa City's east side.

One crew member drove, four others raked and one maneuvered the 12-inch diameter hose.

Piles of leaves had been sitting along the curbs in some neighborhoods for more than a week before the Nov. 20 storm. The weight and moisture from the melted snow had compacted the leaves.

'The leaves are saturated right now,' said Dave Gillham, an Iowa City maintenance worker. 'They don't pick up very well.'

Still, crews moved swiftly down Second Street from house-to-house.

The lack of control over when leaves fall coupled with the fickle Iowa weather creates an annual tension where street crews must race against the clock to complete collections before winter arrives in earnest.

Leaf collection is behind schedule, said John Sobaski, assistant superintendent for streets and traffic engineering. This year, the city has collected 380 loads compared with 550 to 600, which is typical at this point in the year, he said.

'The leaves fell all at once, and we fell behind,' Sobaski said. 'The heaviest period this year involved leaves falling later than usual, and then we had the storm and mechanical problems. Once you fall behind, there's no catching up.'

Iowa City has been collecting leaves for residents since the 1970s, and demand ramped up in 1995 when the city banned burning leaves, Sobaski said.

Some other cities have leaf vacuums, but not all.

Cedar Rapids has devoted leaf vacuums, avoiding the debate between plowing or collecting. Leaf collection was scheduled in the southwest quadrant Friday and in the southeast quadrant Saturday and Sunday. Weather permitting leaf collection is scheduled in the northwest and northeast quadrants next week. The leaf collection program is scheduled to end this Friday.

North Liberty also offers leaf collection to residents, but lost one of its two vacuums when it sucked up piece of concrete and will be out of commission for the remainder of the season.

Marion and Coralville collects yard waste that is stored in bags or bins.

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