Georgetown
seeks ban on curbside dumpsters
By GRAHAM VYSE
Current Staff Writer
October 1, 2014
Georgetown’s advisory neighborhood
commissioners voted unanimously Monday night to request that curbside dumpsters
be banned — or at least severely restricted — on residential streets in their community.
Commissioner Tom Birch said he and his
colleagues still need to take their proposal to D.C. officials, but they said
the time had come to prevent dumpsters used during home renovations from taking
up so much space in Georgetown.
“We’re all familiar with the use and
the proliferation of dumpsters in our neighborhood,” he said. “They’re
available for long periods of time. The permits are cheap. They’re easily
renewable.” As a result, Birch said, they are taking up an increasing number of
parking spaces and jutting out onto narrow residential streets, frustrating
residents.
Moreover, most dumpsters may be
unnecessary because contractors working on home renovation projects in the area
usually have access to waste removal trucks, he said. One resident told Birch
her family had renovated four different houses in Georgetown without ever using
a dumpster.
As of now, it costs a contractor only
$75 for a permit to keep a dumpster on a D.C. street for a month. Birch said
the District should consider emulating Old Town Alexandria, where a contractor would
have to pay $1,900 to keep a dumpster out for that amount of time.
Commissioner Dennis Quinn said he
supported Birch, but he would have “a very keen eye on making sure that policy
outcomes are limited to Georgetown.”
Quinn expressed concern about
advocating for higher permit fees in other neighborhoods without first
consulting community leaders there.
But Birch pushed back, saying “some
things will only happen if they’re applied citywide.”
“I would suggest that this problem may
be a serious bother to the residents of other neighborhoods across the city,”
he said.
Birch also said commissioners would
need to be prepared to take on a wide array of dumpster-providing companies in
the region that might fight against new regulations.
“I suspect there’s a dumpster lobby out
there,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. Concerns about dumpsters in
Georgetown have arisen before. Earlier this year, the office of Ward 2 D.C.
Council member Jack Evans began working with the community on potential
solutions.
