Crowler Claw Machinery for Clean Up
 

I just read on another thread that the Crowder Company who is doing the storm clean up is using large claw machinery to pick up yard debris in residential areas. Has anyone had any damage done to their driveway from the claw? I am aware that all debris is supposed to be piled in the street and not on the driveway. I'm on a cul-de-sac and I'm afraid my yard debris will impede traffic around the circle if I move the debris from the driveway to the street.

Are the crews using the claw to pick up yard debris that is in the yard debris paper bags? If yes, have any of the bags been ripped open when being picked up by the claw?

Not ion the street, and not on your driveway, on your lawn, and hope the grass does not die.....

:oops: Like I said in another post you may be over thinking this. And now you are throwing in some misinformation too.:shrug:

I copied from someone's post......
Copied from an email I received:
Several residents have called or Emailed me requesting more detailed information regarding The Villages hurricane debris pickup program. After talking to Property Manager Sam Wartinbee this morning, this is what I have learned:
In order to receive reimbursement from FEMA, The Villages is required to hire only debris haulers who have been certified by FEMA. CrowderGulf meets that requirement.
CrowderGulf started working in The Villages on Friday, September 15th. Their crews are working 7 days per week, from 7:00 AM to 7:30 PM.
They have six trucks in the field. Two trucks are allocated to work the main road arteries, squares, recreation centers and other public areas. Four trucks are allocated to work the residential areas.
BAD NEWS
The cleanup for the entire Villages is expected to take 3-4 weeks.
GOOD NEWS
They are starting at the north end of The Villages, (YES, in District 4).
PICKUP PROCESS:
According to Mr. Wartinbee, FEMA regulations require that the entire pickup process must be done "MECHANICALLY". This means it must be done with machinery. Human work crews cannot pickup the debris or the bio-degradable paper bags by hand, or use hand tools such as rakes or brooms. Remember, plastic bags cannot be used.
GRASS OR DRIVEWAY?
As you already know, all storm related debris should be placed curbside on residential property, but NOT IN ROADWAYS. CrowderGulf and FEMA will NOT be held responsible for any damage done to your grass, yard or driveway during the debris pickup process. WARNING: The heavy mechanical equipment they use could gouge your yard or the concrete on your driveway, (including pavers or painted designs). It could also break the paper bags and leave a mess for residents to pickup and bag again.
(NOTE: In an abundance of caution, I am leaving tree limbs, palm fronds and other large debris on my GRASS for pickup by CrowderGulf. I am leaving nothing on my DRIVEWAY. I am putting small debris such as twigs and leaves in bio-degradable bags and storing the bags in the garage until the first yard waste pickup day AFTER the larger debris from the hurricane has been picked up CrowderGulf. Obviously, each resident is free to do whatever they feel is best.)

I live on a cul-de-sac. My yard waiste and trimmings along with all the neighbors are placed at the edge of the street. Not going to place on the driveway or in the yard to kill the grass for the next three, four, or whose knows weeks.

There has to be some members of TOTV that have had their hurricane waste picked up by the claw.

How about sharing your experience.
On the driveway/on the grass?
Any damage done ?
Any mess left behind? (there just has to be given the description how they work and don't).

Believe me. If anyone had any claw ripping we would have heard about it on this forum and they would be getting together a class action suit against the Morses because it is always their fault.

I'm sorry if I have said something that is not correct. Please correct me. Thanks.

BTW.....I've been know to over think at times. It's a fault.

EDIT: Thanks to the poster above for posting that copied email explaining that any damage done to driveway and such is not the responsibility of Crowder Gulf. I'm going to be bringing in my bags of debris and will put them out three bags at a time for The Villages' crews to pick up AFTER Crowder Gulf has been through. I don't want the claw to come anywhere near my property. There is always a first time for damage to occur and I don't want to risk it. I have a large bump out in my garage and can easily store the bags for several weeks.

coffeebean (and anyone else), if you sign up for the district.gov. email notifications, you get all sorts of timely information--including a pretty good explanation of the cleanup process, and why the golf courses were flooded (to keep our homes from flooding), etc. They also let you know which rec centers, courts, and pools are closed when, and for how long. And when trash will be picked up surrounding a holiday. It's very helpful.

If I had yard debris, I would haul it myself down to a collection point. For instance, in Tamarind Grove"they" are dumping yard debris at the postal center. Rather than jeopardize my yard or driveway, I would take bags of yard debris down there and empty them into the pile. Just a thought.

most villas don't have grass.

From personal experience.....In New Jersey, the town did clean up of the leaves which were piled in the street in the fall. They use machinery with a claw just the like machinery Crowder Gulf is using here in The Villages. ( I saw the claw on Morse Blvd about a week ago picking up a huge pile of palm fronds from the grass). I can tell you this......the claw would leave HUGE light grey scrape marks in the asphalt. The scrape marks eventually did go away after several rains but they were unsightly for quite a long time.

Have we been notified that it is OK to bring our debris to the mail center? If the answer is "Yes" then I would be happy to haul it to our mail center. I already saw some bags of yard debris at the Mallory mail center parking lot but I thought that was a "no, no". Again.....is it OK to do that?

I watched the crew cleaner our street with great fascination. The operator was a precision artist with the claw. I couldn't hear any clanking of the claw on anything. And, one of the crew was actually picking up yard waste bags and grouping them together for the claw. No muss, no fuss, no leftover debris. Pretty amazing! Note- I lived in South Flordia for many years and any number of hurricanes, and have never seen cleanup so quickly or smoothly.

:ohdear: Not necessarily true. You may have meant villas near where you live.:oops:

:thumbup: Thanks for a nice "first hand" description of the clean up efforts.

I don't know. In the case of Tamrind Grove, nearly a fourth of the parking spaces are covered with a HUGE mound of yard debris. My feeling is this is to facilitate debris pickup. My other feeling comes from my (formerly) teenaged son... it's easier to beg forgiveness than it is to seek permission.

I thank you too for the first hand experience of the clean up. It would be just our luck, the claw operator would not be as skilled as the person which was described above. I'm still going to store our debris in our garage until I find out for sure if it is OK to bring the bags to a drop off point such as the mail center.

I just put my bags in the middle of the lot between street and villa concrete. If they damage street it will be fixed.

:icon_bored: Hate to be the one to break it to you..... I just checked the schedule and the sky is due to fall the day they get to your house. :oops:

Really? The villas in my neighborhood all have a lot of grass.

They don't want to hear this. They want to grouch.

:a20: Put them where you want. I re-read the rules and at the very end it said " These rules apply to all Villagers except Chi33 ":shrug: WHO KNEW?

I got tired of looking at the waste in my driveway so I got rid of it myself.


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I'm very interested ... how is that possible?

See.......told ya!

I drove through Polo Ridge and their yards and driveways look pristine after the cleanup. I certainly didn't see any claw damage.

Threw it in the back of my pickup and dumped it into a big pile.


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Where can we bring the yard/storm debris? I would consider doing that too. I used to haul all the yard debris (LOTS of it) from our NJ home to the nearest recycle site which was about 5 miles away. But......we had an SUV at that time. Now, we have a sedan.

In what village did this cleanup happen?
It's encouraging to hear your comparison to previous hurricanes in other areas.

Thanks for letting us know.

I see a lot of people dropping there yard stuff and bags at the Bonita Mail station. Didn't think we were supposed to but there's quite a pile now

You drove your pickup to a big pile? Where was it located? Has the District established dump piles for residents?

Quote:
Originally Posted by RErmer View Post
I watched the crew cleaner our street with great fascination. The operator was a precision artist with the claw. I couldn't hear any clanking of the claw on anything. And, one of the crew was actually picking up yard waste bags and grouping them together for the claw. No muss, no fuss, no leftover debris. Pretty amazing! Note- I lived in South Flordia for many years and any number of hurricanes, and have never seen cleanup so quickly or smoothly.

Hmm, Who is They?

Dumped it where?

did you call the debris removal company to see what day they will be on your street? that way you can be there to move the debris onto the street when the truck is there

VCDD e-Notification
Subject: Administrative Message - Special Notification to All Newsletter Subscribers
Date: 9/24/2017

Debris at Recreation Facilities

As units of local government, the Village Community Development Districts are eligible for reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for storm debris collection resulting from Hurricane Irma. Each of the Districts located in The Villages have a contract in place with a FEMA approved debris hauler, Crowder Gulf, Inc.

Debris collection began for residential properties on Friday, September 15, 2017 and will continue until each residential area has a collection. Please do NOT place your storm debris or regular yard waste debris at any of the recreation centers or postal facilities. Moving debris from your residential property to recreation areas can be a safety hazard and it can impact the normal maintenance and upkeep of the recreation facilities.

We appreciate your cooperation and urge you to contact the District Customer Service Center should you have any questions on storm related debris pick-up or your regular yard waste collection. We can be reached Monday – Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at (352) 753-4508. For additional information, please visit Village Community Development Districts.