When you’re building condos that sell for a small fortune, there should be enough gravy in the deal to pay for a street sweeper.

But you wouldn’t know it by the mud tracked onto the street near two condo development sites in North York, where the builders seem uninterested in complying with a city bylaw that prohibits fouling of the road allowance.

I got a note recently from David Ash, complaining about mud tracked onto Yonge St. south of Cummer Ave. by trucks exiting a construction site.

I took the 401 to Leslie St. and headed north to Cummer to check it out. On my way, I drove through a muddy mess on Leslie that’s at least as bad as the problem at Yonge and Cummer.

Trucks exiting a condo development site on the west side of Leslie, north of Sheppard Ave. E., had tracked large amounts of mud onto the street, which ends up coating vehicles that drive through it.

At Yonge and Cummer, the heaviest mud was in the left turn lane from westbound Cummer onto southbound Yonge, the route used by trucks departing a huge condo development site at the southeast corner.

At this time of year, with lots of freeze-and-thaw weather and precipitation, truck wheels pick up a lot of mud on a job site. But it’s no excuse for not complying with a bylaw requiring builders to keep the road clear of mud.

Conscientious developers hire contractors to wash and sweep away mud tracked onto the road. And not just occasionally, but as often as is needed, despite the cost.

The best of them will also spread heavy-grade gravel at exits, so trucks can wipe their feet before they leave. Even better, some will station a worker with a hose at an exit, who washes down the wheels of trucks as they depart.

None of those measures were in place on Leslie or at Yonge and Cummer, although a friendly guy at the exit on Leslie said I should come back late in the day, when the street sweeper shows up.

Great, but what about the rest of the day?

STATUS: I sent a note about the mud to the city and got the following reply from Elio Capizzano, manager of permits and enforcement for right-of-way management: “City field investigators have attended at both locations and spoke to the contractors, who have agreed to increase the road cleaning/sweeping efforts.”

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