Those seeking to overturn New Canaan’s recently adopted summertime ban on gas-powered leaf blowers last week submitted petitions to the town with more than 1,000 total signatures calling for a referendum vote on the measure, officials say.
“We now begin the lengthy process of checking the validity of the signatures,” Town Clerk Claudia Weber said.
In all, 701 qualifying signatures are required in order to move the referendum process forward, Weber has said.
If the Town Clerk’s office is able to verify those signatures, the Town Council will have 30 days from the date of the filing of the petition—June 26—in which to set the date and hold the referendum. The number of votes required to overrule the Town Council’s action must be the majority of votes and must be equal to, or at least, 15% of the electorate as of the last completed voters’ list.
Under the Town Council’s ordinance, gas-powered leaf blowers would be banned from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. Exemptions include using gas-powered leaf blowers for emergency and safety purposes, for storm clean-up, by the New Canaan Department of Public Works and “use by residents on hard or man-made surfaces.”
Violation of the ordinance will result in a warning on first offense, $100 fine on second offense and fine of at least $250 after that, under the language developed over several months by the Town Council’s Bylaws and Ordinance Committee.
The town began to consider a possible ban or restrictions on gas-powered leaf blowers at least four years ago, and the issue returned with force last summer. Those in favor have argued for more quiet in the summer and cited environmental and public health benefits of reducing the use of noisy gas-powered leaf blowers. Skeptics of a ban have raised questions about unintended financial consequences, including higher costs for landscaping companies that will be passed along to taxpaying residents, as well as compliance, enforcement and shortcomings of electric leaf blowers.
The New Haven Independent reported on June 26 that the State of Connecticut State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) voted to investigate the petitioning process for this referendum for possible violations of election law. Not sure what that means for the referendum.
Very interesting, thanks Irene. For anyone wishing to see the complaint it’s here.
The practical reality of this SEEC investigation is simple: the summertime leaf blower ban is effectively dead for 2026. Since the town code pauses ordinances during a referendum challenge, dropping a state investigation into the mix guarantees months of legal limbo while the SEEC takes up to a year to rule. Can someone say FIASCO?
That complaint was related to the original 50 required signatures (for which over 90+ signatures were submitted) to pause the ordinance, not at all related to the 1000+ signatures that were submitted for the actual referendum. Seems the filers of the complaint are more interested in putting up road blocks and spurious claims rather than letting the entire community weigh in on the leaf blower ban as written.
I have also heard some proponents of the leaf blower ban accosting fellow members of the community at their local businesses and threatening their livelihoods by canceling them just because they decided to pursue a referendum to have this ordinance as written reconsidered. Is this what our community has devolved into? Really?
The existence of a flawed petition is a legitimate concern worth taking seriously—not a technicality to wave away. Election laws exist precisely because they apply the same way to every petition, every signature requirement, every procedural step, regardless of which side benefits. Dismissing a citizen’s insistence that those laws be followed as written, and recasting it as obstruction, says more about the confidence opponents have in winning on the merits than it does about the legitimacy of raising the issue. Following the law isn’t a roadblock. It’s the law, full stop.
There’s also a real practical stake here: pushing forward with a referendum that may be legally defective risks spending roughly $10,000 in taxpayer money on a process that could later be invalidated. That’s not a small thing to wave off in the name of expediency. Getting the process right isn’t anti-democratic—it’s what makes the eventual vote actually count.
Maria I wholeheartedly agree with you. Typical of this my way or the highway mentality of a minority group trying to strong arm their desires on the majority. Why are they afraid of the exercise of our constitutional rights? The ordinance itself is very poorly written and technically discriminating against the populous and businesses by our townhall government which government is exempting themselves from the ordinance.
I am also certain that our police officers want nothing to do with enforcing this ridiculous ban against law abiding, peaceful contributing citizens.
Roy, I find your rhetoric very offensive and abusive of our town government and the extensive debates and discussions that preceded the 8-4 Town Council vote. Greenwich and Pound Ridge have their police departments handle the infraction tickets which I haven’t seen much in the way in complaints on by residents. Norwalk has a “blight officer” to handle the complaints. Your comments are transparently fallacious.
This thread is closed, thanks all.
The reality is that you don’t need to blow stuff. Most of it will decompose naturally. 50 years ago blowers were not around en-mass and lawns, etc. looked fine. Residents of NC are so vane in that they need “perfect lawns” so what ?
The noise is constant from morning till night with little let up. If you want the perfect lawn, pay your lawn guy to use a rake, so what if it takes longer or cost a little more you already pay for ridiculous prices for many things ,the cost for one more thingt won’t break the bank.
That’s logical to you and me. But when most residents are paying for a landscaping service, there is no way that the landscaper is going to just stop doing what he does everyday. The onus is on the homeowner to either notify the landscaper to stop blowing his lawn.
Personally, I haven’t blown my driveway and lawn since the mid-May spring cleanup of pollen and storm debris. I haven’t mowed my lawn either and have kept with the spirit of reduced noise and air pollution as I usually do. But it’s 6 weeks since and there is a significant amount of debris on my very wooded lot, so I will have to start the engines.
Happy 250th!
If we compare what other towns have enacted with far less controversy to surrounding towns New Canaan’s ordinance seems measured and quite reasonable: Norwalk has a window of permitted gas leaf blower operation from before June 1 to after October 15. Their “blight enforcement officer” issues an initial warning then a $250 ticket for the second offense. They transition to banning all gas-powered blowers in 2027 for properties of 2 acres or less and then 2028 for the rest of the properties.
Greenwich bans the use of gas-powered leaf blowers from the Friday before Memorial Day through September 30. Offenses are an initial warning followed by a $100 ticket then a $250 ticket each time after that.
Pound Ridge and neighboring towns have a gas-powered leaf blower ban from May 15 through October 15. Initial violations result in a warning then fines go up from $100.
New Canaan’s ordinance is a lot like Greenwich’s; there is an initial warning, followed by fines; the ban goes from Memorial Day to Labor Day as written.
Very good arguments have been made over and over again why we should limit gas-powered blowers especially the backpack blowers, from the standpoint of the environment, public health, limiting the disruptive, obnoxious and offensive equipment when better technology is available.