Alley Relocation Program
The Solid Waste Division (SW) offers residents the opportunity to request their solid waste services (trash, recycle and bulk trash) be permanently relocated from alley to curbside via a survey process. Safety concerns, illegal dumping, accidents and crimes are some examples of why a survey may be requested. Once a request for a survey is received, it’s typical for the actual survey to take place within six months of the request.
City Staff Responsibilities
Educate customer on process and timeline.
Conduct survey process with all abutting property owners to an alley and obtain votes.
Be on-site if/when solid waste services are relocated.
The benefits of getting trash services out of your alley
Helps reduce illegal dumping and unauthorized use of your trash receptacle.
Eliminates occurrences of “dumpster diving”, which often spreads trash and litter throughout alleys, messes which residents are required to clean up.
Reduces available hiding places and cover for drug use, encampments, or urination/defecation in alleys.
Survey Process
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Each owner abutting the alley segment will be contacted about the survey, requesting their feedback on whether or not they would like solid waste services to remain in the alley or be relocated curbside.
Staff goes door-to-door and attempts to educate. If in-person contact is unsuccessful, either a phone call is made or a letter is mailed to the owner.
Owners are provided two weeks to respond to the survey. During these two weeks, staff make multiple attempts to collect the votes from property owners.
After the two week window closes, staff tally all votes and determine final results. A property owner/household is only allowed one vote.
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For results to be valid, the City requires a 50% + 1 response rate from property owners.
Of the responses, there must be at least a 51% majority in favor of services to either remain in the alley, or be relocated curbside.
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Once a survey passes or fails, staff deliver a letter to all property owners abutting the alley to inform them of the final result.
If the survey passes, a service relocation date will be included in the letter. All survey related relocations are permanent service relocations.
If the survey fails, the letter informs property owners that there will be no changes to their solid waste services at this time.
⚠️ Department Safety Relocations
The process for a safety-related relocation is different than a residential request. A survey is not required for a safety relocation. Potential reasons for a safety-related relocation include: insufficient alley width, low hanging wires, history of accidents, etc.
If at any time an alley is deemed unsafe for solid waste service per the department’s alley collection safety standards, services may be permanently relocated curbside without a survey. The department’s collection safety standards override any survey results.
