Warwick Township sweeps streets two times a year or on an as needed basis. The timing of street sweeping is subject to change due to weather conditions and varying trash pick- up days making an exact schedule difficult to keep.

Spring Street Sweeping  began in April and is expected to last all month. Fall street sweeping will be done in October and November.

Please DO NOT blow grass clippings, leaves or other yard debris into our roads or stormwater inlets

Please do not leave grass clippings, leaves & other yard waste on the street. According to a paper prepared and published by Penn State University (PSU) and written by George Hurd: Grass clippings that are blown into the street eventually enter the street storm drain. When mowing make sure that the first few passes with the lawnmower blowing the grass clippings into the yard not the street. If there are grass clippings on the street or sidewalk use a broom or leaf blower to blow them back into the lawn. Do not use a hose to wash them into the street or storm drains. Keeping your leaves and lawn clippings out of the streets will have significant benefits for local storm water systems.

According to the U.S. EPA, leaving your grass clippings on the lawn doesn’t cause thatch buildup. Grass clippings are about 90 percent water, so they decompose very quickly. Leaving your grass clippings on the lawn can reduce your lawn’s fertilizer needs, reduce your fertilizer costs and reduce water pollution.

We need your help to keep our streets beautiful for our neighbors and to prevent water pollution in our storm water system. No Dumping of yard waste of any kind is permitted in our Parks, Open Spaces or Basins.

Warwick Township is making winter storm management preparations for dedicated roads to assure the highest level of service to our residents.  The following is our general snow and ice removal policy for the Township.  The policy may be adjusted to address unique situations or state of emergency designations.
To serve you better, we need your cooperation with all facets of winter storm management.  We ask you to review our policy and the additional information provided here.  If you have any further questions, please email them to MRambo@warwickbucks.gov

The Township’s primary objective is to make the roads under its jurisdiction as safe as reasonably possible under the circumstances for the traveling public. This means plowed and passable edge to edge.  To minimize damage to equipment, plow blades are not set to scrape the road bare.
We will be applying road salt to critical road surfaces prior to the first snowflake, ONLY when conditions are optimal for this type of application.  These roadways will be selected in a manner which best recognizes the need to insure safety in critical areas such as higher traffic volume areas, slopes and sharp curves. By doing this we hope to inhibit snow adhesion to roads.  Ideally, we will have time to reach all of the critical areas as well as a large portion of dedicated Township roads.

The Township does not mobilize its snow removal forces for its plowing operations until a minimum of 3”of snow is on the ground.  Icing conditions are addressed using different criteria.  Designated snow emergency routes will be the first areas salted and plowed within the Township, followed by collector roads, main development streets, and cul-de-sacs.  For the initial plowing sequence, drivers are instructed to make one pass in each direction on the street and one pass in and out of cul-de-sacs (up the middle).  The priority of each vehicle is to open each street in its assigned area.  At the start of each storm, trucks are loaded with salt and sent to their assigned areas, their instructions are to apply salt to all Snow Emergency Routes then collector and arterial roads, followed by main development roads then cul-de-sacs and Dead Ends Last. So if we come through and have not been on your street it is because Cul-de-sacs and Dead Ends are LAST. We will address you as soon as our primary roadways have been treated and are safe. Salt needs the movement of traffic to be most effective; so if it seems your street has not been salted, it may just be that there has not been enough traffic to promote melting action.
Snow is pushed where it is most convenient and maximizes our time. We do not purposely place snow on anyone’s property. The snow is pushed to areas that maximize our time and effectiveness. We are working as hard and as quickly as possible to open up our roadways for all.
Here are ways for you to assist with the snow removal efforts:

Vehicle parking:
•    Park off the roadway and in your driveway.  On street parking inhibits our trucks from clearing the streets.
•    If you live on a cul-de-sac, parking on the street makes snow removal almost impossible.
•    If you live on a designated snow emergency route, you may not park on the street once a snow emergency has been declared.
General Removal of Snow:
•   Do not throw or blow the snow that you remove from your driveway or sidewalks back into the street.  This slows the snow removal process and you could be subject to a fine.
Driveways – Some suggestions for shoveling driveways are:
•   Wait until all plowing operations have ceased before attempting to clear your driveway.
•   If you clear your driveway before plowing operations are completed, leave the last 6 feet unshoveled.

To review the ordinances on snow removal, click here: ordinances.  The township ordinances are listed for your information.

If you have a fire hydrant on your property please be courteous and remove fallen snow off the hydrant.

Above all, please be patient.  Snow plows push snow, they don’t eat it! Our primary goal is to clear the streets for safe and accessible passage by all; we will move all snow to the curb line so YES your driveway will be plowed in, please review the drawing above to minimize your frustration and aggravation. AGAIN the roadway being cleared is our NUMBER 1 priority. Our employees need time to do their job properly. Please keep in mind that our employees also require rest breaks to insure everyone’s safety. We do our very best to insure timely operations but we do have 60 lane miles of roadway to address with a small crew.

Be aware that your mailbox is in the township right-of-way and may be subjected to tremendous weight of thrown or piled snow.  The Township is not responsible for mailboxes damaged by thrown snow, so to minimize this type of damage, check to see that your mailbox, the post, and the box mounting are in good condition and do not extend into the street.
If there is an immediate or urgent problem, you can contact the Township and leave your contact information, address, and the nature of your problem.  The Public Works Department will respond in a timely and efficient manner to rectify the situation.  If there is an emergency problem for the police or fire company, dial 9-1-1.

We appreciate your review of this information.  The Township strives to provide a high level of service, while minimizing the use of tax dollars.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation and patience, we strive for excellence in the service of our residents.

In an effort to develop more environmentally sound landscape models for a healthier community while decreasing the Township’s expense of mowing, the Township started naturalizing some basins in 2006.

Benefits of the naturalization program include:

1. More birds and wildlife will be in the area due to new habitat and food provided by the meadow
2. Reduce the high maintenance cost of regular mowing
3. Reduce runoff pollutants and improve water quality leaving the basin
4. Reduce downstream flooding
5. Enhance drinking water aquifer recharge
6. More naturalized basins allow for the re-colonization of predatory insects that can lessen the mosquito and tick population

The naturalization process includes the following steps:

1. Application of Roundup Pro – kills lawn type grasses (information on product available at the Township building)
2. Dead grass will be removed
3. Spread wildflower seed mix

Mowing is performed by both the Public Works Department and the Parks and Recreation Department. The Public Works Department is responsible for mowing the large areas with a flail type mower. The Parks and Recreation Department is responsible for the manicured areas.

Warwick Township has adopted a “Go Green” mowing initiative that is designed for those basins not planned for naturalization and certain Open Space areas. This initiative includes mowing designated areas 2-3 times annually. You will notice basins and open space being left to grow naturally for a longer time before they are mowed. We will only mow the tops of basins. We will continue to mow trails, pavillions, restroom areas, benches and Park playing fields.

According to the EPA, a traditional gas powered lawn mower produces as much air pollution as 43 new cars each being driven 12,000 miles. Mowing an average residential property produces as much air pollution as driving a car 200 miles.

Gas mowers emit hydrocarbons (smog), particulate matter (respiratory problems), Carbon Monoxide (poisonous gas), Carbon Dioxide (global warming). In addition, by mowing less, we reduce the possibility of fuel spills.

In addition to the environmental advantages, this policy will enhance our ability to best utilize and retain our funding for the residents of Warwick Township and improve the safety for our maintenance employees, due to the severe slopes of some of the basins we currently maintain.

We appreciate your understanding as Warwick Township does its part to help the environment and our world.

It is the responsibility of the property owner of the adjoining road to trim their trees  and/or bushes when branches hang in the public right-of-way.  Any branches or vegetation that may be overgrown and which may impair the use or maintenance of a public road, trail, sidewalk or street should be promptly trimmed.  Our snow removal and maintenance crews need a minimum of 14-foot clearance to safety transverse their large equipment throughout the Township.

The Public Works Department is actively clearing overgrown vegetation from the right-of-way, signage and sight triangles.

To report an area of concern, please submit here:  Township Contact Form

The Public Works Department conducts ongoing inspections of Township-owned drainage swales within the Township borders. Periodic excavation and regrading is necessary to insure proper flow and eliminate backup and/or flooding.

Privately-owned drainage swales and/or ditches are the responsibility of the property owner in which they are located to maintain.  Generally, swales and ditches outside of the right-of-way of a public street are privately owned and maintained.

Annually, the Public Works and Parks and Recreation Departments install wood carpet at our Township Park locations to ensure the safety of playground users.