Starting next month, the City of Edmonton will cut grass and trim weeds more often.
Beginning in July, the city will move to a two-week grass-cutting cycle. This means all grassy areas, including district parks, regular sports fields, boulevards and pocket parks will be maintained every 14 days.
Premier parks and sports fields will be mowed at least once a week, the city said. All turf will receive one cycle of grass and weed trimming around trees and objects per year and a continuation in weed control.
Effective immediately, 101 seasonal staff will be recalled to do the work, Gord Cebryk, deputy city manager of city operations, said Wednesday.
“It will take some time for crews to catch up on the deferred maintenance, however Edmontonians should notice an increase in mowing activity beginning in July,” Cebryk said.
“We are hopeful that these adjusted service levels will help alleviate some concerns as we continue to deliver our services with a significantly reduced workforce.”
The move comes after the city shifted to a 21-day grass-cutting cycle for the majority of city-owned green spaces to save money during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor Don Iveson has not been shy about saying Edmonton — along with many Canadian municipalities — is facing serious financial implications due to the pandemic.
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“We know it is frustrating for a community to see the longer grass and dandelions and we appreciate Edmontonians’ patience as we work through these very challenging financial times,” Iveson said Wednesday.
“We hope that people understand that our financial constraints as a result of COVID-19 still prevent us from restoring the full service levels that people are used to, but these increased mowing cycles will help.”
The shift to the 21-day maintenance cycle left many fields filled with dandelions. In some parks, the grass was longer than 16 inches. Some Edmontonians even took grass-cutting into their own hands.
Cebryk thanked Edmontonians for their enthusiasm, but said city crews are now in better shape to take over the task.
“We appreciate the community spirit some Edmontonians have shown, however, I would like to reiterate that we do not encourage Edmontonians to mow grass in city parks,” he said.
“Our staff have a significant level of training on a number of different aspects and we do have specific PPE as well as procedures to ensure the safety of our employees when they’re doing the work. Most citizens don’t have that level of training and in some cases, may or may not be using PPE. So for those reasons, we want to make sure that citizens are safe. We really appreciate their enthusiasm trying to help out, but we want to make sure it’s done in a safe way.”
The city said the reduced maintenance led to a 140 per cent increase in calls to 311 related to natural areas, horticulture, turf, weeds and sports fields.
“We have heard the frustration from the public about turf maintenance and the appearance of our green spaces,” Cebryk said. “After ensuring we were able to make these improvements within our existing budgets, we are ready to make these adjustments responsibly and quickly.”
The 14-day maintenance cycle is still less frequent than normal summer operations in Edmonton, which usually see the grass cut every week. The city said it continues to “navigate service delivery during times of fiscal restraint.”
Cebryk said the city is about eight weeks behind in turf maintenance but said it’s not too late to catch up.
“We do know, of course, that when dandelions go to seed they will reseed but our increased mowing will help us combat that next wave,” he said.
“With the increased resources, we think we’ll be able to catch up and make a good dent in terms of combating both dandelions as well as the increased height of the grass.”
The priority will be getting to areas of the city that have not yet been mowed this season.
“There are a number of locations that actually weren’t going to get any mowing this year, so certainly those will be some of the first that we’ll be tending to — those that haven’t had any mowing at all,” Cebryk said.
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