The Department of Public Works will collect bulk leaves from one, two and three family residential properties only beginning on October 19 and ending on November 13. Each street in the Village will receive collections on your two recycling days during that period of time.

Please place your leaves in the street at least two feet from the curb and in piles no wider than four feet. Never place leaves within fifteen feet of a storm sewer inlet and PLEASE help keep inlets clear of leaves at all times to help prevent street flooding during rain events. 

Leaves and grass clippings only can be accepted from the street. Piles containing branches, garden waste, soil, rocks or any material that could damage our expensive machinery will be left and become the property owners responsibility to remove and recycle.

Please remember that the Village Leaf Collection is intended to assist residents during the heaviest part of the leaf fall. All equipment used during the Leaf Collection must be reconfigured into a snow removal mode immediately after November 13, thus ending the leaf season. Leaves may also be brought to the Public Works Yard for recycling during our normal hours of operation. No leaves may be placed on the street after the last scheduled collection for your street. Please call the Department of Public Works for more information, 423-2133

As reconstruction of Grange Avenue comes to a close, a number of people have asked questions about the wildflower covered medians in a portion of the project. Sections of the new pavement on the Grange Avenue project have been shaped to direct storm water toward the median and into the bio-retention swales. A series of 41 openings in the curb-line equally distributes the water in the filtering area via concrete flumes. After being collected in the swale, the water then percolates through large native wildflower covered beds comprised of layers of engineered soils, crushed stone and sand. The filtered water collects at the bottom of the swale and flows through a series of distribution pipes into Dale Creek.

This bio-filtration device is designed to remove silt and other pollutants from storm water runoff. It is an excavated area that is backfilled with crushed stone (for storage) and an engineered soil mix (consisting of sand, topsoil and compost) that is covered with a mulch layer and then planted with wildflowers. Storm water percolates through the mulch and engineered soil, where it is treated by a variety of physical, chemical and biological processes that trap pollutants and silt before infiltrating back into the native soil or overflowing into the storm sewer system.

The construction of the Grange Avenue bio-retention swales will help the Village of Greendale meet WDNR storm water permit compliance goals. The Village is proud to have participated in this beneficial Water Quality Initiative Project, with assistance from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.


Graphic: Bio-Retention Swale

Please join the Zone D Fire Departments (Franklin, Greendale, Greenfield, Hales Corners) on September 11, 2009 at 5 p.m. at Boerner Botanical Gardens for a short remembrance ceremony. Click here for more information (pdf).

The Village of Greendale is watching the approaching Emerald Ash Borer threat very closely. The recent confirmation of the insect in Franklin has ramped up response planning and the monitoring of vulnerable tree assets.

Public Works Forestry staff has been undergoing EAB training for more than two years on various topics such as identification, de-barking methods, quarantine issues and pesticide application as well as monitoring Village Ash trees for the insect. The Village EAB Response Plan will allow for guidance from the Wisconsin Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources as well as intergovernmental cooperation with area municipalities.


Emerald Ash Borer

Residents can help by monitoring the Ash trees in their yards for signs of the insect. Adult EAB's are about 1/2 inch in length and dark metallic green. The larvae leave a 1/8 in "D" shaped hole when they emerge from under the bark to take flight in the summer. Trees may take several years of infestation before they begin to show the debilitation and canopy die-off that is a common indicator of infection. Unfortunately it is quite likely that like many other invasive pests such as Japanese Beetle and Gypsy Moth the Emerald Ash Borer is here to stay. Minimizing the initial damage and managing cyclical outbreaks may be the best option for the near future.

For more information, visit the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources website at http://dnr.wi.gov/forestry/fh/ash/ or call the Public Works Department at 423-2133.