Homeowners

Homeowners

Alternative Landscaping

Alternative or Sustainable Landscapes encompass a variety of plants, aesthetics and biological dynamics that are promoted in St. Louis Park. We appreciate and plant many native and alternative landscapes on our own City properties and encourage you to consider an alternative landscape for your property. Click here for more information on implementing...

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Buckthorn

Buckthorn is an invasive terrestrial (on land) plant that is found in many areas throughout St. Louis Park, the Metro area and, unfortunately, almost all of Minnesota. Buckthorn removal on private properties is encouraged by the City of St. Louis Park. The City loans out Weed Wrenches to any residents, for a one week period, which...

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Canada Geese

They are abundant and prevalent in St. Louis Park. This can be a concern due to the large quantities in parks and community areas. Remember please DO NOT feed the geese; it is against City ordinance to do so. To find out more about this animal, click here.

See more about: canada geese  ducks  geese  

Clean Green!

Reduce toxic chemicals in your St. Louis Park home and reduce the amount you spend on cleaner, leaving your house smelling clean and fresh. Below are just a few ways to clean your house using natural products:

General Cleaner: 1/2 cup baking soda mixed with a liquid vegetable based soap makes a great cleaner for counters (and won't leave scratches), sinks and other surfaces.

Disinfectant Spray: 2 cups water, 1/2 cup vinegar and 10 drops of an essential oil like lemon oil or tea tree oil. Spray this onto counters, bathroom, and floors.

Window and Glass Cleaner: Club soda in a spray bottle. Wipe clean.

Furniture Polish: Put olive oil and lemon juice on a clean cloth. Wipe onto wood. Wipe off. Take care not to get onto upholstery.

Click here for more green recipes.

See more about: cleaning  glass  green  green things  lemon  

Compostable Yard Waste Bags Now Required

Beginning January 1, 2010, a state law requires residents of Anoka, Carver, Hennepin (including City of St. Louis Park residents), Ramsey, Scott, and Washington Counties who bag their yard waste or other compostable waste to put their waste out for pick up in compostable bags – either paper bags or compostable plastic bags. Residents of Dakota...

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Coyotes Are Among Us

See more about: coyote conflicts  coyotes  hazing  living with coyotes  

Deer

Deer have become a fact of life in St. Louis Park. While some people enjoy the presence of deer in and around their yards, others are dismayed by the costly damage to their trees, shrubs, flowers and vegetables. To reduce the likelihood of extensive landscape damage from deer, try planting trees, shrubs, and flowers that are less attractive to deer...

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Emerald Ash Borer

The Emerald ash borer (EAB) is an insect pest that has invaded Minnesota, however it has not been found in St. Louis Park yet. EAB is a serious threat to Minnesota's urban and rural ash populations, which number over 900 million trees. Don not remove any ash trees or ash wood from your property without first checking your...

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Fluorescent Light Bulbs

Using energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs makes good sense—you save money on electric bills and help protect the environment. Often called a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL), fluorescent bulbs include U-tube and circline fluorescent tubes, bug zappers, tanning bulbs, black lights, germicidal bulbs, high output bulbs, and cold-cathode...

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Mulch - Wood Chips

Free shredded wood mulch from tree trimming or storm damage clean-up is available to St. Louis Park residents. Mulch is stored near the intersection of Cedar Lake Road and Colorado Avenue (south side of Cedar Lake Road adjacent to the railroad tracks). The site is open weekdays and weekends during daylight hours. Before going to the site, you may...

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New Oak Disease Identified

There has been a new disease, called Bur Oak Blight (BOB) , identified for the Twin Cities area. This disease affects Bur oak trees and mimics sypmtoms of Oak wilt disease, with lots of brown leaves appearing during the growing season. Click here for more information on BOB.

See more about: bob  disease  invasive species  oak trees  oak wilt  trees  

Opt Out of Phone Books

Tired of phone books piling up on your front doorstep, especially if you don't use them anymore? Opting out is even better than recycling. 

A new website recently debuted that allows you to stop phone book deliveries with a just few clicks of a mouse .  The website, donttrashthephonebook.org, is a joint effort by Yellow Pages Association, Conservation Minnesota, and local phone book publishers Dex One, Super Media and Yellowbook.

Interesting Fact:  Telephone directories were banned from disposal in municipal solid waste (MSW) in Minnesota in 1992 (Minn. Stat. § 115A.951).

Unwanted phone books can be placed in your bin for collection.  Contact Eureka Recycling at (651) 222-SORT (7678) for more information on how to recycle phone books.

See more about: eureka  phone books  recycle  

Rain Barrel & Compost Bin Sale

The Recycling Association of Minnesota (RAM) has partnered with the City of Minnetonka to provide rain barrels and compost bins at a discounted price to the public. You do not need to be a Minnetonka resident to order.

Steps to Ordering:

1. You must pre-order online through RAM.  The order deadline is April 6, 2012.
2. Pick up your order at the City of Minnetonka Public Works Facility.  You must pick up your order on Friday April 20 or Saturday April 21, 2012.  These are the only dates available to get your order. If you cannot arrange for your order to be picked up on these dates, please do not place an order.

Prices:
Rain Barrel: $69 plus tax (Regular Price: $139)
Compost Bin: $55 plus tax (Regular Price: $105)

Pickup Location:
Minnetonka Public Works
11522 Minnetonka Boulevard
Minnetonka, MN 55305

Contact:
RAM (952) 473-0048

See the event flier for pictures or see them on display at the RAM education and resource center located at 852B Lake Street East, Wayzata, MN 55391. Hours open to the public: M-F 10am – 4pm.

RAM is also holding several other sales throughout the spring, if you miss out there will be other opportunities. Check the RAM website for information about additional sale events. 

See more about: compost bin  rain barrel  

Rain Barrel and Compost Bin SALE!

Rain Barrel and Compost Bin SALE!

Special Two Day Distribution Event!
Order now to pick up at:

City of Minnetonka, Public Works Facility
April 20-21, 2012

Hours:  9 a.m. - 3 p.m. each day

All sales are  on-line pre-orders only.

Click Here to order online

Click Here forAdditional information

See more about: rain barrel  sale  

Sprinkling Restrictions

To conserve water, St. Louis Park prohibits lawn sprinkling between noon and 6 p.m. In addition, all households and businesses must follow an odd/even schedule when sprinkling lawns.  If your address ends with an odd number, you water on odd calendar days (1st, 3rd, 5th, etc.), likewise if your address ends with an even number, you water on even...

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Thermostats

Many thermostats contain mercury. Mercury is a concern because exposure to it can be harmful to humans and animals.  This shiny, silver metal was once widely used in manufacturing, agriculture and other industries.  It is now considered a dangerous pollutant.  Mercury is a neurotoxin that damages or destroys nerve tissue at high concentrations...

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Tree Care

You can help protect all your trees by

• Watering trees - even mature ones - during prolonged dry periods. The best way to water small trees is to let a hose run very slowly at the base of the tree for about an hour. For trees larger than six inches in diameter, water under the outer edges of the branches for one hour with the hose open-ended at a trickle speed.
• Saving routine pruning and trimming for dormant  winter months where contractors will give you better rates. (Don't trim elms, oaks and honey locusts in the spring or summer. Trimming between mid-April and mid-August greatly increases their disease susceptibility.)
• By not banging into the base of the tree with your lawn mower.

You are welcome to call the city forester at (952) 924-2565 with any questions about tree care, tree selection or planting. For more information about trees, click on www.mntrees.org.

Click here for a list of licensed tree services for St. Louis Park.

See more about: contractor  forester  tree care  tree contractor  tree service  trees  

Tree Diseases and Infestations

Trees with diseases such as Dutch elm and oak wilt (whether on boulevards or private property) must be removed so they don't spread the disease to nearby healthy trees. Trees with infestations of insects such as Emerald ash borer must also be removed (which is not yet found in St. Louis Park). Downed trees with the following symptoms must also be...

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Tree Pruning

Beginning the week of January 2nd, 2012 and continuing through March, the City will continue its rotational tree pruning cycle. This work is performed by a contractor hired by the city and is intended to improve the health, safety and function of all of our boulevard trees. This project is intended to prune each boulevard tree once every 9 years...

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Tree Removal Restrictions

City ordinance prohibits anyone (homeowners, rental property owners, developers and commercial property owners) from cutting down live trees from public land, including boulevard spaces. The city has an ordinance that provides requirements for tree removal and replacement on public and private land. For more information, look for Section 36-364-...

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Tree Replacement

Effective in 2010, council has passed the Urban Reforestation Program and Policy that will provide a healthy and diverse tree population to support the City's vision regarding environmental stewardship. This policy will enable the City to plant more trees on the boulevard. If you're interested in a tree for your boulevard, please contact the city forester...

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Trees for the Holidays and Beyond

Consider giving a gift of a Tribute Tree to your friend, relative, coworker or anyone you may want to honor.  A Tribute Tree, sponsored by the Friends of the Parks and Trails of St. Paul and Ramsey County, is one that you give in honor of someone and it is planted in a St. Louis Park park by City staff. 

Trees cost $100.00 each or three tribute trees for $250.00. A hand stamped  card announcing your gift will be sent by the Friends to the person you wish to honor. After the trees are planted in the park next summer, the Friends will send the recipient of the gift tree a map showing its location.

Trees may be planted in a park within St. Louis Park or in a park of a variety of cities. Tree species preferred by each community are listed on the Friends web site.

Click here for more information or call 651-698-4543.

See more about: park trees  tree donation  tree sale  trees  tribute trees  

When City Permits Apply

When considering construction projects, a permit may be necessary. Please click on the links below for more information.

• When City Permits are required
• Information about erosion control permit

See more about: permits  

Greening Your Home

Get the whole family involved in achieving a greener home, making St. Louis Park a greener place to live!

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Turn off lights when no one is in the room.
• Close heat vents in areas of your home that are not being used - bedrooms by day, office at night, etc.
• Install a programmable thermostat and set it to lower temperatures at night and when no one is home during the day. Each degree lower can decrease a heating bill by 1%.
• Unplug coffee makers, toasters, food processors, etc. when not in use.
• Use power strips to turn off groups of appliances when not in use. Group together the DVD player, VCR, stereo and gaming units and power them down when no one is around.
• Set humidifiers and dehumidifiers to turn on only when the humidity level warrants.
• Don't overuse exhaust fans in bathrooms, kitchens or basements as they can suck out a roomful of warm air very quickly requiring your furnace to work harder.

Click here for more ideas.

Locally, the Center for Energy and the Environment has low cost loans to help make energy efficient improvements.

Click here for more information on their programs.

See more about: conservation  energy conservation  green  save energy  

Energy

Do you know there are many different ways St. Louis Park residents may save on energy bills?

Click on the links below to learn more.

• Energy Challenge
• Energy Efficiency MN Dept of Commerce
• Green Power
• Living Green Expo

See more about: conservation  energy conservation  green energy  

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

They use about 2/3 less energy than standard incandescent bulbs to provide the same amount of light, and last up to 10 times longer. Please recycle them as hazardous waste. For proper disposal, all St. Louis Park residents may call Hennepin County at: (612) 348-3777 or go to Hennepin County.

Click here for more information on compact fluorescent light bulbs.

See more about: environment  light bulbs  recycle light bulbs  

Related Links

• Sustainable Urban Landscape Information Series
• University of Minnesota Extension Service
• Arbor Day Foundation

See more about: lawns  native landscapes  natural resources  plant  trees