Winter grass damage - snow plow

Kentucky bluegrass, Fescue, Rye and Bent, etc
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greenrebellion
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Winter grass damage - snow plow

Post by greenrebellion » October 15th, 2018, 10:53 am

I live on a culdesac. Last winter, areas of my hell strip were completely torn up from where the snow plow driver would gouge the earth when moving snow from the culdesac on to my property. Of the five or so houses on the culdesac, my lot (plus one of my neighbors) is one of the few areas that the plow drivers can put snow given mailbox/utility/driveway placement on the other lots.

Not only does this gouging make the soil very uneven but it takes huge chunks of grass out that took me the full season to get it to fill back in. This was super frustrating, is there anything I can do?

I thought about those marking poles but given that there are virtually no other areas for them to put the snow, that may be unreasonable, furthermore the drivers would likely just plow right over them without a second thought. Is this going to be a yearly unavoidable issue?

rucraz2
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Re: Winter grass damage - snow plow

Post by rucraz2 » October 15th, 2018, 11:09 am

I would say the poles also, but like you said they will just plow them over. I had a neighbor across the street at my old house that had the same issue. It was just a bit of a curve in the street and they would always take out a ton of his yard. He did put up poles that helped. But not sure if it will help in your situation.

Green
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Re: Winter grass damage - snow plow

Post by Green » October 15th, 2018, 12:01 pm

Use them, but they sometimes get broken by the plows, so have extras and a way of installing them in frozen ground when/if they break. Last year was the first year they broke them on me, but it happened with the replacement as well, so I ended up going through three. I have a similar situation as you do, in terms of logistics. When I was talking with a relative who plows for the community at a family event this Summer, I slipped in what happened...maybe that will help. I will just keep installing new ones each time they break, I guess. Other years, they never broke.

greenrebellion
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Re: Winter grass damage - snow plow

Post by greenrebellion » October 15th, 2018, 1:17 pm

I don't think I'm allowed to use the markers since I am on a culdesac and they have to put the snow somewhere and my lot is pretty much the only option. I think they would argue that they have right of way access to the hell strip to drop the snow.

I guess this post is more of a vent than anything, as there probably isn't much that can be done. Just sucks that this will likely be an annual repair process.

At least they don't salt my street.

smontgo150
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Re: Winter grass damage - snow plow

Post by smontgo150 » October 15th, 2018, 1:57 pm

I'm in the center of a cul de sac too and use reflective snow sticks every 8 feet with zero issues. I will also plow the border of my property if I can before the plow trucks come. My biggest issue is with the large salt chunks being flung into my yard. I toyed with the idea of using some of the low burlap meant to protect shrubs and erecting a low fence to keep the salt in the street.... As if my neighbors don't already think I'm crazy enough.


smontgo150
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Re: Winter grass damage - snow plow

Post by smontgo150 » October 15th, 2018, 2:02 pm

To clarify further, we do have a large landscape bed in the center of the cul de sac and they typically deposit the snow in it.

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ronfitch
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Re: Winter grass damage - snow plow

Post by ronfitch » October 15th, 2018, 3:05 pm

smontgo150 wrote:
October 15th, 2018, 2:02 pm
To clarify further, we do have a large landscape bed in the center of the cul de sac and they typically deposit the snow in it.
Similar to our cul-de-sac, though the bottom of ours is open (no house or driveway), so that will often double as a place to put snow when it gets to be a lot of snow.

We are the first property with a significant curve driving into the cu-de-sac.

In the years I have put up the reflective posts, no damage to our boulevard strips as had been the case prior. When I have lost the occasional one, it has not been hit by a plow but rather lost to the compressed snow over time. But that point, the drivers are already following an established path in the snow.

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