Help Finding Lawn Debris Statutes

[jasn]

Can someone help point me to the actual Maryland laws that govern lawn debris removal? I live in Calvert County and am currently involved in a dispute with a neighbor over leaf blowing legalities which later in the year, turns into snow blowing issues as well.

I believe that most state laws state that if leaves fall onto your property, you are responsible for them, regardless of the location of the tree. You can't simply move them onto a neighbor's property, as that's considering either littering or trespassing, depending on the local statute.

However, in the case of a property with a long driveway, bordered by neighbors' properties, are there typical, (or implied), easements to allow blowing the driveway leaves and snow onto the bordering properties in a half and half manner?

Any advice or pointers to the actual Maryland statutes is greatly appreciated..

 

[Chasey_Lane]

I am so thankful I don't have douche bag neighbors.

 

[slotpuppy]

Put up a fence, problem solved.

 

[frequentflier]

Put up a fence, problem solved.

A fence does not stop our neighbor from blowing his crap in our yard and he has a bucket loader to dump the snow to block our driveway. He is not a very nice neighbor.

 

[slotpuppy]

A fence does not stop our neighbor from blowing his crap in our yard and he has a bucket loader to dump the snow to block our driveway. He is not a very nice neighbor.

Some C-4 on the loader would take care of that problem.

 

[MadDogMarine]

A fence does not stop our neighbor from blowing his crap in our yard and he has a bucket loader to dump the snow to block our driveway. He is not a very nice neighbor.

Your best solution, video everything before and after!. Document you have written to them and placed them on notice of their actions. Then take all your documents to small claims court which I believe is good for up to $5,000.00.

 

[dontknowwhy]

A fence does not stop our neighbor from blowing his crap in our yard and he has a bucket loader to dump the snow to block our driveway. He is not a very nice neighbor.

you can solve this problem...you just need to be creative about it

 

[Ken King]

Can someone help point me to the actual Maryland laws that govern lawn debris removal? I live in Calvert County and am currently involved in a dispute with a neighbor over leaf blowing legalities which later in the year, turns into snow blowing issues as well.

I believe that most state laws state that if leaves fall onto your property, you are responsible for them, regardless of the location of the tree. You can't simply move them onto a neighbor's property, as that's considering either littering or trespassing, depending on the local statute.

However, in the case of a property with a long driveway, bordered by neighbors' properties, are there typical, (or implied), easements to allow blowing the driveway leaves and snow onto the bordering properties in a half and half manner?

Any advice or pointers to the actual Maryland statutes is greatly appreciated..

I suspect that the Litter Control Law (Criminal Article § 10-110) is what you are looking for.

Litter is defined as "all rubbish, waste matter, refuse, garbage, trash, debris, dead animals, or other discarded materials of every kind and description."

Prohibited. -- A person may not dispose or cause or allow the disposal of litter on public or private property unless:

(i) the property is designated by the State, a unit of the State, or a political subdivision of the State for the disposal of litter and the person is authorized by the proper public authority to use the property; or

(ii) the litter is placed into a litter receptacle or container installed on the property.

 

[sm8]

If it is a long driveway and the neighbors own the property along both sides it brings to mind the question, Is the property the driveway is on owned or is it a right of way? I believe that would make a big difference but either way it is not OK to dump your stuff on someone else's property without permission.

 

[jasn]

Thanks Ken for at least providing a statute citation. As I mentioned, I know it's not allowed to blow leaves and snow onto someone else's property in general. I'm just curious about the case of a driveway as described.

It is a long driveway but it's on the plat as being part of the home's property. Since it is a long driveway, and the property is behind the two street facing properties in the cul-de-sac, it must cut through the property of the neighbors on both sides. There's lots of these types of properties around.

I would have thought that since homeowners are legally responsible for keeping driveways and sidewalks clear, (I think..?), that there would exist an easement that would allow the blowing of leaves and snow, off of the long driveway onto the bordering properties. When leaves or snow are blown off of the roads, the debris ends up on someone else's property. Wouldn't this simply be an extension of that principle?

Again if anyone knows of a specific statue that covers this or lawn debris issues in general, (I would think there would be something specific covering it), please feel free to point me to it.

Thanks..

 

[vince77]

Have you spoken to your neighbor or is this dispute the result of dueling leaf blowers? Try to work it out between yourselves...going to court many times leads to everyone losing.....you can't buy good neighbors...

 

[softtouch]

The neighbors take care of the leaves on the long driveway when they are doing their yards.
The long driveway owner blows the snow off the neighbors sidewalks and driveways when he is blowing snow.

 

[BernieP]

Solution

pick the leaves up and bag them.

 

[Railroad]

pick the leaves up and bag them.

 

[Retrodeb54]

I am so thankful I don't have douche bag neighbors.

You're also very very luuuuuucky.

 

[Ken King]

Thanks for the replies. As I mentioned, I know it's not allowed to blow leaves and snow onto someone else's property in general. I'm just curious about the case of a driveway as described.

It is a long driveway but it's on the plat as being part of the home's property. Since it is a long driveway, and the property is behind the two street facing properties in the cul-de-sac, it must cut through the property of the neighbors on both sides. There's lots of these types of properties around.

I would have thought that since homeowners are legally responsible for keeping driveways and sidewalks clear, (I think..?), that there would exist an easement that would allow the blowing of leaves and snow, off of the long driveway onto the bordering properties. When leaves or snow are blown off of the roads, the debris ends up on someone else's property. Wouldn't this simply be an extension of that principle?

Again if anyone knows of a specific statue that covers this or lawn debris issues in general, (I would think there would be something specific covering it), please feel free to point me to it.

Thanks..

Just so I understand what you are talking about. You say that the driveway is depicted on the plat as being part of the homes property as it passes between two other pieces of property and not through those properties as an easement would do. If that is correct, then blowing leaves off the driveway onto the adjoining property would be littering, just as if those adjoining properties were blowing their debris onto the driveway. Now, if the driveway as depicted on the plat is an easement upon either or both of those adjoining properties for that homes access then I am unsure if there is a legal issue or not or if there is a law covering such activity within easement boundaries.

Do you have a .pdf of the plat that you could attach so we could see what you are talking about?

 

[jasn]

Thanks again for your response Ken.

Using the plat, I've drawn a very simple diagram, included here, where I've depicted our cul de sac property arrangement. On the actual plat there are two drawings for each property. An outside boundary line, with coordinates, and inside of that is drawn another shape that includes the lot number, the street number, and the acreage. I don't know if that means that the driveway "spikes" of land are easements or property. Regarding easements on the plat, there is only this statement under General Notes;

2. A Perpetual Easement shall be provided for the road construction and maintenance included within the boundary faces of the typical cross section (s) indicated on the plans including some storm drainage structures and facilities, excavations for entrances, approach roads, streets, intersections, gutters ditches, berm ditches and flumes. The construction and stabilization of all the roadway typical section within the boundary faces shall be completed as required by the Grading Permit.

Again I understand that you simply can't blow leaves and snow from your own property onto someone else's. However there are situations, (like public road clearing), when it's apparently acceptable to blow "some" leaves and snow which eventually end up on someone else's private property. What I'm curious about is whether or not a "generally accepted easement" of some kind is applied to these long cul de sac driveway properties, (ours are 500 to 1000 feet), regarding the blowing of leaves or snow off of the driveway only, onto the adjoining properties.

Lastly, if anyone knows of any specific MD lawn debris statutes, that they can point me to, whether they cover this situation or not, I'd appreciate it. In the meantime I'm using different search expressions on Calvert County's ecode360 web portal to try to see if I can find something there.

Thanks again..

 

[Shutout]

Who owns the trees?

 

[Ken King]

Thanks again for your response Ken.

Using the plat, I've drawn a very simple diagram, included here, where I've depicted our cul de sac property arrangement. On the actual plat there are two drawings for each property. An outside boundary line, with coordinates, and inside of that is drawn another shape that includes the lot number, the street number, and the acreage. I don't know if that means that the driveway "spikes" of land are easements or property. Regarding easements on the plat, there is only this statement under General Notes;



Again I understand that you simply can't blow leaves and snow from your own property onto someone else's. However there are situations, (like public road clearing), when it's apparently acceptable to blow "some" leaves and snow which eventually end up on someone else's private property. What I'm curious about is whether or not a "generally accepted easement" of some kind is applied to these long cul de sac driveway properties, (ours are 500 to 1000 feet), regarding the blowing of leaves or snow off of the driveway only, onto the adjoining properties.

Lastly, if anyone knows of any specific MD lawn debris statutes, that they can point me to, whether they cover this situation or not, I'd appreciate it. In the meantime I'm using different search expressions on Calvert County's ecode360 web portal to try to see if I can find something there.

Thanks again..

I'm curious, is blue blowing leaves and snow onto red? Or is red blowing it on to blue or yellow? Or is yellow blowing it onto green or red? Or is green blowing it onto yellow?

Given your depiction, do red and yellow share a driveway or do they each have their own?

 

[Vince]

Same thing if your tree fell on the neighbors yard. Court rules it as an act of God. Responsibility is your neighbors, but if it were my tree, I'd split the removal and / or help him / her cut it up for firewood. :shrug: Falls on his car or house, his insurance would have to take care of it. Leaves blowing around would fall under the same category.