MUSD fingered for dumping landscape debris

Dumped yard clippings raised some hackles in The Lakes at Rancho El Dorado, and the fingers are pointing at Maricopa Unified School District.

MUSD owns vacant property on both sides of Placone Road, a connector between Rancho El Dorado Parkway and Powers Parkway. Property owners in The Lakes complained to the homeowner’s association about dumping going on within those parcels and accused the school district’s landscape crew.

“On March 21, we did dump some grass, and we are checking with the city regarding spreading this type of biodegradable green matter on our property,” MUSD Superintendent Steve Chestnut said.

Robert Mathias, development manager for the city, said it looked like clippings and tree limbs had been dumped on the property some time ago as well.

“That is not something we would allow,” he said. “People think it’s biodegradable, but that takes a long time.”

He said yard clipping and similar debris should be packaged up and disposed of at a waste facility or mulched.

Mathias said there was no record of a citation being sent to MUSD, but he said he would talk to the district about the situation.