Darien Gets Tough On Garbage Violations: Officials

DARIEN, IL — About a year ago, Darien enacted a law barring residents from keeping their garbage containers in front of their houses, rather than in their garages or back and side yards. But officials said Monday they are seeing plenty of repeat violations.

In March, the city canvassed a few areas, starting in the Hinswood subdivision. It found about 200 violations with garbage containers and junk in front of houses, according to the city.

The city started with door hangers notifying residents of their violations and seeking compliance within a week or two, said Dan Gombac, the city's municipal services director.

"We were generous with the time," he said at Monday's City Council meeting.

If residents complied, the cases would be dismissed. But weeks or months later, resident are again in violation, Gombac said.

So Gombac said he recently met with Police Chief Greg Thomas. And they agreed to involve the police department's community service officer in the process of issuing tickets.

The plan, Gombac said, is for the city to issue $25 tickets the next go-around for 100 repeat violators. That will begin this week, he said.

Others will get notices of violations, followed up with tickets the next time if problems persist, Gombac said.

City Administrator Bryon Vana agreed with the plan.

"This is the only way we're going to get compliance," he said. "We have been really patient in trying our best to work with residents. We want the council to know it's time to enforce this."

In an interview Tuesday, Vana said the plan to issue tickets would promote compliance.

"We don't want to take people to court. Taking residents to court is the last thing on our list of things that our staff wants to do," he said. "This ordinance has been adopted. We do get complaints from residents."

The city banned garbage containers from the fronts of houses and garages for aesthetic reasons, Vana said. Residents can place their containers in side yards, unless they are on a corner lot, he said.

Residents can put their rollouts in larger containers and keep them in their front yards, Vana said.