Agenda Packets - 1989/04/17 - Laserfiche WebLink

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MEMO To: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL FROM: CLERK-.1DMINISTRATOR DATE: APRIL 10, 1989 SUBJECT: CORRESPONDENCE FROM TOM L. KOBEL, 5449 ERICKSON ROAD As you may recall, you recently received a letter from Mr. Thomas L. Kosel, 5449 Erickson Road, copy attached, regarding a pit that Mr. Kosel maintained on his property for purposes of disposing of household, organic material. Mr. Kosel indicates in his letter that this pit is his "compost heap". On March 28th the City received a telephone call from one of Mr. Kosel's neighbors, who refused to identify themself, adivising us of the fact that Mr. Kosel was disposing of "garbage" in a hole on his property. The Community Service Officer was instructed to inspect Mr. Kosel's property and determine :hcthar or auL disposal of garbage as defined by Chapter 104.01, (1) of the Municipal Code, copy attached, was occurring on his property in violation of Chapter 104 Our Community Service Officer, upon. inspecting Mr. Kosel's property, determined that disposal of garbage was occurring in a manner described by Mr. Kesel and directed that the pit be filled as described in his letter. Had Mr. Kosel been maintaining what is an accepted "compost pile", the difficulty Mr. Kosel had with the City would not have occurred. I am attaching a copy of a brochure on composting provided by the University of Minnesota Extension Service. This brochure describes the accepted methods for composting and clearly contradicts Mr. Kosel's assertions that his "pit" is a compost heap. The saliant points in this brochure states that composting is a microbioprocess that converts plant materials such as grass clippings and leaves to compost through aeration of the materials being composted. Mr. Kosel's compost heap was a pi_ dug in the ground with a cover prohibiting the aeration process from occurring and apparently and did not contain any yard waste. The brochure also indicates that some household wastes such as coffee grounds, egg shells and vegetable greens are acceptable additions to a compost system. Mr. Kosel was disposing of all organic household wastes, the majority of which are not acceptable compost material. Mr. Kosel does raise an appropriate point in that he suggests that the City Code should be addressing the issue Of composting. Should the Col'i be changed to clarify what is an acceptable composting practice as compared to Mr. Kesel's practice would avoid any future conflicts. Staff would reco,-,mend Council authorization to correspond