Commercial mowing and cleanups in Scarborough, Maine.

Chapter 419, the town's post-construction stormwater ordinance, requires the owner of a property with an approved stormwater plan to hire a qualified inspector at least once a year to check its facilities, naming parking areas, catch basins, drainage swales, detention basins and ponds. The inspector files a signed certification with the Town Engineer on or before June 1, and deficiencies found have to be corrected.

Routine grounds work feeds straight into that inspection. Swales that are mowed and cleared, clippings kept out of catch basins and pond banks kept open enough to inspect all show up in the certification. A spring cleanup scheduled ahead of June 1 hands the inspector a site that reflects its real condition.

Parking lots are where Scarborough's non-stormwater discharge ordinance, Chapter 903, meets everyday mowing. Clippings and leaves blown across pavement collect in catch basins that drain toward brooks the town already lists as impaired, so crews blow debris back onto turf or bag it rather than leaving it on the asphalt.

Commercial sites with oaks or ornamental fruit trees along walkways have a second reason for a careful fall cleanup. Browntail moth caterpillars carry hairs that cause rashes, and their winter webs are easiest to find once the leaves are down.