Members of a town-appointed body that advises on the protection and conservation of New Canaan’s natural resources are seeking to further restrict the use of gas-powered leaf blowers here, saying the machines are bad for residents, wildlife and the environment.
The Conservation Commission at its most recent meeting voted unanimously in favor of recommendations to only allow gas-powered leaf blowers or “GLBs” October through Dec. 15 and then again from mid-March through April.
In a set of recommendations that’s being forwarded to a committee of the town’s legislative body that oversees ordinances, the Commission also is recommending some limits on the number of GLBs per property (such as one for properties under three acres and two for properties over three acres), and limiting hours of use to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and allow only one leaf blower per property (gas or electric) on Saturdays.
The GLBs would be allowed for use following natural emergencies such as hurricanes, and also allowed for Department of Public Works use on public properties while pursing “transitional plan to electric powered machines,” under the Commission’s recommendations.
“Consider allowing electric leaf blowers year-around that operate within the time and property guidelines specified above,” the Commission’s recommendations said. “Ensure that their decibel levels don’t exceed 65dB. Electric/battery-powered blowers eliminate the problem of exhaust pollution and can reduce decibel levels; however, they still dispose harmful ground-sourced materials.”
Commissioner Linda Andros said at the group’s March 10 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference, that although some of the recommendations are “aspirational,” she hopes that as they move forward to the Town Council Bylaws & Ordinances Committee that “everyone can come to a consensus on something that is reasonable and actionable, enforceable.”
“We can’t really implement anything unless proactive solutions to objections are provided and that would involve creating an awareness campaign to let people know what the dangers and downsides of GLBs are,” Andros said. “We could position New Canaan as a quiet community, which it is. It is a community that values its parks and open spaces.”
Commission Chair Chris Schipper, Secretary Sue Sweitzer and members Andrés, Martin McLaughlin and John Fusek voted 5-0 in favor of the recommendations.
New Canaan does already have a noise ordinance on the books, though it makes some allowances—such as Sunday and holiday use—that the Commission members are seeking to tighten up, and parts of it aren’t enforced, they said.
Under the Town Code, “Motorized equipment or machinery with engines powered by electricity, gasoline or other fuel products, such as snow blowers, snow throwers, leaf blowers, leaf vacuums, lawn mowers, tractors, trimmers, chainsaws, wood chippers, log splitters, and generators, excluding motor vehicles, shall be operated at all times with a muffler in working order to abate the exhaust, combustion and explosive noises therefrom. In addition, with the exception of snow blowers and snow throwers, such equipment may not be operated in the following time periods such that the noise therefrom exceeds 45 dBA measured at the receptor’s property line: Mondays to Fridays: before 7:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m.; Saturdays, state or federal holidays: before 8:00 a.m. or after 6:00 p.m.; and Sundays: before 10:00 a.m. or after 4:00 p.m.”
The Commission’s recommendations step from a citizen-led group that began meeting last year, Andros said. In studying the problem, they found that “leaf blowers are quite hazardous,” she said.
They “cause toxic air pollutants that increase risks of cancer, respiratory and heart diseases, the velocity air jets desiccate the soil and disperse ground-source particulates” such as dust, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, spores and pollens “that contribute to the loss of vegetation and beneficial insects and the high-decibel noise certainly increases the risk of hearing loss.”
“The toxic carcinogen exhausts that are created by GLBs, the carbon monoxide, we all know the dangers of that,” Andros said. “Nitric oxides and hydrocarbons.”
The high velocity air-blowers that typically are used move leaves that provide winter habitat for pollinators, caterpillars, fireflies, worms, ants beetles, shelter for some birds and small mammals and also “dislodge nutrient rich topsoil,” she said.
One of those who helped organize the citizen-led campaign, John Seel, said during the meeting that addressing the problem of GLBs is “incredibly important to get done just for the quality of life in this town and for our health and the health of our kids, and frankly also for the heath of our workers.”
Seel said the list of recommendations should be prioritized, with the seasonal ban on GLBs outside of the spring and fall timeframes at the top.
“My only concern in hearing the presentation tonight is every new restrictions that is added brings out another group of opponents,” Seel said. “And so I am wondering, since Linda you mentioned having a long-term plan and possibly doing this in stages, could we consider doing this in stages?”
One attendee at the meeting, Councilman Kimberly Norton, who sits on the Town Council’s Bylaws & Ordinances Committee, called the concerns about GLBs “a really important issue.”
“We live in town on small lot sand a lot of people are working from home because of COVID, not commuting into the office, and it’s really hard to be on a Zoom call or to be concentrating with the amount of noise coming from all angles,” Norton said.
She suggested that Andros make the same presentation to the Town Council after budget season, starting with the ordinance committee.
Town Councilman Robin Bates-Mason, a guest at the meeting, said the issue is not just that there are more people home now amid the pandemic, and that she’s seen an unnecessarily high number of two-stroke engine leaf blower operators on working properties, which dramatically increases the level of noise.
Public Works Director Tiger Mann said the town has been “ looking at this for a couple of years now” and is trying to figure out ways to “transition some of our equipment over to from gas to electric.”
“We have been testing blowers, weed whackers, chainsaws and what have you,” he said.
Mann—who noted that he himself owns an electric mower, blower and grass trimmer—said he appreciated that there was an exemption in the Commission’s recommendations and that one difficulty right now for the DPW is that the town must change its equipment quickly from leaves to snow.
“We have a limited period of time to get our work done,” he said.
Mann added that “there’s an economic tradeoff” that comes with switching to electric-powered tools.
McLaughlin said the Commission should be prepared to show the relative costs of operating battery- versus gas-powered leaf blowers to the Town Council committee.
Other attendees at the meeting said that towns such as Westport are in the process of adopting such bans, that using a mulching mower on leaves instead of removing them creates good fertilizer and that other places warn and fine those who violate high noise ordinances.
New Canaan’s Martin Skreulas said he manages a total of 50 acres of property in town and beyond, and that in working on his own property he has found electric leaf blowers to be at least as useful as gas-powered.
“I found that the amount of time saved of having to work with flooded machines, spilled gas, et cetera, versus popping in a fresh battery more than makes up in the lost time of just dealing with the machine,” he said.
Meeting attendee Rob Fryer said he has found that the noise ordinance already in place is regularly violated and that he feels for new residents who have moved here from New York thinking they would escape city noise.
Many New Canaanites don’t yet know that “there are alternatives to blowing.”
“We’re not going to get their overnight,” he said. “I know this is a major educational exercise.”
Thank you profusely. Long overdue.
This discussion should include representation of the landscaping business owners. If our town is going to make decisions that will have a negative economic impact on a segment of business, we need to allow them a seat at the table. Especially in this economy, when so many small businesses are struggling. Make an informed decision that takes into account all aspects of such a move.
Absolutely, we will want to hear from everyone before any action (if any) is taken.
Thank you for attempting to move this forward. It is mind-boggling to watch workers (who often don’t wear ear protection) blow from one yard to another just to have the same debris blown back by another crew or the wind. We have “No-idle” zones at various locations around town but yet leaf blowers are more toxic to the environment than cars. Education on the topic is crucial.
https://pollinatorfriendlyyards.com/2020/04/21/the-worst-urban-environmental-problem-of-our-time-leaf-blowers-extreme-pollution-extreme-noise/
In my opinion, preventing the blowing of pesticides is the secondary issue. Allowing the use of pesticides should be the primary issue. Allowing toxins to flow into the waterways and groundwater should be unacceptable at any common sense level, but unfortunately we value our lawns more than that. I live in a watershed that supplies Norwalk with drinking water and have never used pesticides on my lawn or harmful chemicals outside my house over the past 15 years. Please consider the stronger step of banning pesticides. The lawns will survive as will the wildlife that come into contact with these chemicals.
Absolutely. Many landscapers and home owners have been in a hurry to put down “weed and feed” fertilizers on their lawns when the ground hasn’t even warmed up yet. The lawns have an artificial growth spurt and greening then get washed out and negatively impact the environment. Organic fertilizers and liming would be a lot more sustainable.
On the leaf blower fanaticism, raking out lawns and beds is much better environmentally though may be more labor intensive. It seems that workers would rather use noisy machinery than using equipment in more sustainable ways.
Bravo. This ordinance should be added to town law before the fall. Regarding the cost of changing to battery operated blowers, the truth is the change is coming regardless of what New Canaan does. We should do what’s right now rather than waiting to follow the towns around us, which will enact similar restrictions soon enough.
Yea! We should protect the landscape workers’ health, along with our own health and peace and quiet, and the health of our planet. Yes, lots of education is appropriate.
When you get two and three men together blowing leaves right next to each other it is especially noisy with a very high decibel level but even so over an entire lawn three people make a lot of noise and when you consider other properties with leaf blowers going in a quarter acre zone on a nice summersday you just want to be some place else at times .
Consider that one man with one blower will take 3X longer to do a job than three men with three blowers. If the goal is to quiet the blowers, ban them outright.
Robert Russell makes a very good point. I have a leaf blower and work my own small lawn (1/3 acre). While it is a perfectly good 14-year old blower, I’m willing to switch to electric if the town mandates it.
THIS IS COMMUNIST at its BEST!!
aaaaand this thread is closed