Public Works
About the Public Works Department
Department of Public Works Coordinator: Tim Schultz
Phone: (248) 541-2901
Click on the tabs below for information on specific public works topics.
Public Works Topics
The DPW Coordinator manages and conducts the City’s public works functions, including providing day-to-day public works services in the City and managing contractual relationships to fulfill the City’s public works function.
The City contracts with a range of private entities and other municipalities to deliver DPW services. General grounds maintenance, landscaping, snow plowing and winter maintenance, and leaf pickup services are provided by Brilar. Water and sewer maintenance is provided by the Oakland County Water Resources Commission. Tree maintenance services are provided by Davey.
Pleasant Ridge is a member of SOCRRA, which provides garbage, recycling, and yard waste pickup for southeast Oakland County communities. SOCRRA contracts with garbage haulers to provide pickup to member communities. Tringali is the garbage hauler for Pleasant Ridge.
Residents can contact SOCRRA directly with questions about garbage pickup, or to report any issues with garbage or recycling pickup.
SOCRRA can be reached at www.socrra.org on the internet, or by phone at (248) 288-5150.
Garbage Collection Dates
Garbage, recycling, and yard waste pickup is on Monday of each week. When a major holiday falls on a Monday, the garbage pickup day is moved to Tuesday.
Click Here for the Garbage Pickup Schedule
All garbage must be securely wrapped and placed in approved garbage receptacles not exceeding thirty five (35) gallon size, or in the large Tringali containers which are available for purchase from SOCRRA. Containers must be placed in the berme area, at the curb, in front of your house between 6:00 p.m. the day before pick-up and 7:00 a.m. the day of collection. Please do not place containers in the street. Containers must be removed from the street and stored in the rear yard within 12 hours after garbage pickup occurs (note that our website used to say 24 hours after pickup occurs, while City Code sets 12 hours as the deadline – we used to provide additional time but this was abused by some residents so we now enforce the 12 hours set by Code).
Appliances such as washers, dryers, hot water tanks and furniture must be placed near the curb before 7:00 a.m. the day of collection. Appliance doors must be removed before placing outside.
Recycling Information
Pleasant Ridge now has single-stream recycling. For detailed information about what you can and cannot recycle, refer to SOCRRA’s website.
If you need a new recycling cart, please contact City Hall. Pricing and options for the new carts are still being determined.
Bagged Yard Waste
Yard waste pickup begins in April and the final pickup is in December. Refer to this link for the current year schedule.
Only soft yard waste such as grass, leaves, flowers, weeds, potting soil and garden vegetables/fruit will be collected. Yard waste may be placed in no larger than 35-gallon capacity garbage can with an appropriate “compost” sticker on it, or it may be placed in a (30) gallon kraft paper bag. Sticks, twigs, brush or branches will not be collected as yard waste. Plastic garbage bags are NOT acceptable for the collection of yard waste.
Bundled Brush
Bundled brush will be picked up on Monday during yard waste pickup season as long as it meets the following standards for pickup:
Brush, slim tree branches, bush branches with needles or thorns such as rose bushes, shrubs, vines and hedge-type bushes will be picked up as long as they are:
One inch (1″) or less in diameter,
Cut into four-foot (4′) or less lengths,
Tied and bundled,
Weigh less than sixty (60) pounds.
Bundled brush that does not meet the above requirements will not be picked up.
SOCRRA will accept drop-off yard waste or bundled branches from residents at any time of the year (including the mid-December thru mid-April “off season”). The City does NOT collect compost, yard waste or bundled branches during the off-season. For information about how to drop off yard waste yourself at SOCRRA, call SOCRRA at (248) 288-5150.
Loose Brush Pickup
Larger branches, 1″ to 4″ in diameter, will be collected by the City on the third Tuesday of each month. Branches 1″ to 4″ in diameter and between 4 feet and 10 feet in length must be placed at resident’s curb with butt ends facing the direction vehicles travel. Brush between 4 and 8 inches must be cut into not more than 4 foot lengths. Branches larger than 8 inches in diameter can not be picked up with loose brush.
If a contractor or homeowner cuts down a tree, the contractor or homeowner must make arrangements to remove the debris from the property. IT WILL NOT BE COLLECTED.
Should you have any questions on loose brush pickup, please contact City Hall at 248-541-2901.
Fall Leaf Pickup
Curbside leaf pickup in late October or early November and alternates weekly between the east and west sides. Cambridge (east) and Woodward Heights will be picked up each week due to the large volume of leaves and traffic on those streets. Leaf pickup information is published in annually in the Ridger and on the homepage of the website.
If all leaves are picked up from one side of the City early in the week, Brilar may move on and pick up some leaves from the other side of the City. Don’t worry if this happens, Brilar will be back the following week as scheduled.
Fall Weather and Schedule Adjustments
Fall weather is unpredictable and almost always interrupts our schedule. Updates will be posted here, in this notice, if schedule adjustments are necessary.
Will Leaf Collection Be Extended?
No. As we get into December the risk of significant snowfall greatly increases. If leaves are still out on the street and it snows, we may not be able to pick up the leaves and will have to plow them back onto the lawn creating a mess. Based on experience from past years we will not extend the leaf pickup schedule. You can place laves in yard waste bags for compost pickup on trash days until December 14.
2022 Collection Dates
Week of November 7: East Side + Cambridge East
Week of November 14: West Side + Woodward Heights
Week of November 21: East Side + Cambridge East
Week of November 28: West Side + Woodward Heights
Week of December 5*: Final pickup begins starting with the East Side
*pickup will continue into the following week if necessary until all streets have been picked up
Leaf pickup is a major task, as we generate more leaves per capita than any other nearby community. We ask for your cooperation to ensure that the process is as smooth and efficient as possible. The best thing you can do to help us is:
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Ensure that ONLY leaves are placed at the curb. No other materials may be mixed in with the leaves as this can damage the equipment. Vines, old potted plants, flowers, brush, sticks, tree branches, pumpkins, etc. will damage the leaf pickup equipment and will impact our ability to efficiently pick up leaves. These other items may be placed in compost bags for pickup on Monday morning.
- Do not park cars on the street during the day until the leaves on your street are picked up. Parked cars are a major impediment to efficient and complete leaf pickup.
Bagged Leaf Pickup
Residents may place leaves at the curb in compost bags for pickup on garbage collection days throughout the yard waste collection period. The last day for bagged leaf pickup is usually the second Monday of December.
The City delivers salt to residents on the third Tuesday of the month from November through April. Residents may place up to a 5-gallon bucket at the foot of their driveway and the City will fill it. Buckets should be placed out at the curb by 8 am on Tuesday morning as our DPW takes an inventory of buckets to ensure that Brilar fills all buckets that were out on time. Buckets placed out after 8 am on Tuesday morning may not be filled.
Property owners are responsible for maintaining the sidewalks adjacent to their property. However, the City does periodically do sidewalk improvement projects where we replace defective flags at public cost.
The City also offers a cost-share program for replacement of defective sidewalk flags by a property owner. The City will contribute $75 towards the replacement of a defective sidewalk flag that meets our criteria for replacement, which are as follows:
- Raised or heaved sidewalk: 3/4″ or more at a joint or crack
- Cracks: One crack at 1/2″ or greater width, or 2 or more cracks
- Cross slope: 3/4″ per foot
- Spoiled/Spalled: 25% or more
- Dip: Judgement generally, but replace if water collects
This is a reimbursement program, so if you are considering replacing defective sidewalk flags you must contact City Hall before you complete the work. We will inspect the site and identify how many flags meet the criteria for replacement before the work is done. Once those flags are replaced we will reimburse you for our agreed-upon share. Please note that we reimburse the property owner directly for the City’s share, so you will have to pay your contractor for the entire cost of the job.
The City has a combined sanitary and storm sewer system. This means that sewage and stormwater flow into the same pipe underground. When Pleasant Ridge was developed in the 1910s and 20s, this system flowed out to waterways during rain events. This meant that raw sewage was being discharged to natural waterways.
In recent decades new environmental standards have required the Oakland County Drain Commissioner to implement a number of infrastructure improvements to reduce, and ideally eliminate, combined sewage overflow events. The most significant of these is the George W. Kuhn facility.
Locally, Pleasant Ridge is required by the NPDES permit for the Southeastern Oakland County Sewage Disposal System to install and maintain the restricted sewer inlet covers on our streets. These restricted inlets slow the rate at which stormwater can enter the sewer system. This causes our streets to be used as short-term detention during storm events. Sometimes the restricted inlet covers become clogged, preventing the water from entering the drains.
While it is an inconvenience to have water pooling in the streets, it helps prevent the local and regional sewer system from being overwhelmed and causing sewage overflows into water bodies.
Street sweeping is contracted out by the City. Streets are swept once a month on or shortly after the second Monday. Residents are encouraged to keep cars off the street on the second Monday of the month, until your street is swept. Additional sweepings are scheduled in the spring as needed.
Pleasant Ridge is defined by the leafy character of our streets. We have over 2,500 street and park trees on public property that the City maintains. In the past 7 years, the City has planted over 400 new street and park trees to maintain our tree canopy over time.
Street Tree Plantings
The City’s Street Tree Manual is the guide for tree plantings in public rights of way. The City plants street trees in areas of need each spring.
Residents who want to plant a different tree than is identified for their street for in the street tree manual may do so on their own, and at their own cost, as long as the tree is identified as an acceptable species in the street tree manual.
Street Tree Maintenance
Street trees are owned and maintained by the City. Please report any issues to City Hall and we will have our on-call arborist investigate them.
Residents are not allowed to remove street trees without prior permission from the City. We will allow street trees to be removed when they are diseased or damaged. We do not allow healthy trees to be removed unless there are extraordinary extenuating circumstances.
Residents may conduct trimming or other maintenance work on a City street tree with our prior permission. Please contact City Hall to discuss any maintenance work you would like to do on a City street tree.
Click Here to see the output of the solar panels on the roof of the Community Center.
