NewCanaanite.com recently received the following letter. Send letters to editor@newcanaanite.com to have them published here.
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The Town Council’s Ordinances and Bylaws Committee is meeting Monday night to review and vote on an ordinance to restrict the use of leaf blowers in summer.
This issue has been discussed for years, and the Council has been presented with extensive, scientifically documented facts supporting restrictions on gas-powered leaf blowers. The most common concerns include the toxic, carcinogenic pollution that gas leaf blowers emit and their excessive noise, which contributes to stress and disrupts the use and enjoyment of our homes and yards. The proposal under consideration would restrict the use of gas leaf blowers from Memorial Day to Labor Day, when they are not needed and are most disruptive to our quality of life. Surrounding towns in Connecticut and many municipalities in Westchester County have already implemented similar ordinances. Because of this, area landscapers are already transitioning to electric equipment, and there have been no documented increases in landscaping costs or impacts on their employment as a result of these restrictions.
At the February 9 Council meeting, opponents of the ordinance claimed that there had been limited public input on the issue. However, numerous residents have expressed frustration about the ongoing noise and air quality impacts and have voiced support for meaningful action. Considering the grassroots nature of this initiative the level of public engagement has been notable, even in comparison with more high-profile issues such as the town budget.
If you are concerned about these quality-of-life issues and want relief from leaf blower noise and pollution during the summer, please consider making your voice heard. You can:
- Email the Town Council at TCDistribution@newcanaanct.gov
- Attend Monday night’s meeting in person at Town Hall (2nd Floor Boardroom, next to the First Selectman’s office)
- Join via Zoom
Meeting Details:
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87478572578?pwd=1QeLa1HGU8buliZMhoP3NJ8C6pRwfI.1
Meeting ID: 874 7857 2578
Passcode: 431416
One-tap mobile:
+1 646 558 8656,,87478572578# (New York)
+1 646 931 3860,,87478572578#
The agenda includes public comment and Council discussion of a potential draft ordinance regarding the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. Public participation is encouraged.
Now is the time to speak up for a quieter, healthier New Canaan.
Lars Andersson
I live in a one acre zone where not only are leaf blowers required throughout the Spring, Summer and Fall to clear driveways and walkways often hundreds of feet long, they are rarely heard because of the distance between homes. If heard at all, its a muffled sound for no more than ten 5 to 10 minutes every week or so.
The complete ban of their use is a solution for a problem that does not exist for a large portion of New Canaan. I urge Town Council to reject any ordinance that completely eliminates the use of gas powered leaf blowers any time during the year.
Hi Mr. Cerbone:
Thank you for your input on this. As currently drafted, the ordinance restricts the use of gas-powered leaf blowers during the summer months (Memorial Day through Labor Day) and single uses by residents are exempt from the restrictions.
We live in a one acre zone, and leaf blowers disturb even indoor phone conversations eight months of the year. The people operating the leaf blowers are damaging their brains, their lungs, their hearts and their hearing while we pay them to pollute our air and disturb the peace and quiet, Let’s act as other towns have!
Hi Peter,
Thanks for your comments, we’ve been working hard to get sensible solutions in place. Can you make it to town hall tonight ? Just an FYI that a quick web search found that 31 communities in our area have some restrictions in place. These towns have supported quiet neighborhoods then why can’t we ?
Thank you, Lars, for your unwavering efforts on this topic. Let’s bring New Canaan into current times and in-line with our peer towns that have all enacted adjustments to gas-powered leaf blower use.
My family supports a ban on gas powered leaf blowers during the summer months. Last summer, despite living in 2 acre zone, the noise was incredibly loud at almost all times of day, and often lasted until 6 or 7 PM at night. It made spending time in our yard, at our pool, and on our patio for dinner, difficult and unpleasant. It was (quite literally) difficult to hear our small children speak, at times. We moved to the suburbs from the city for moments of peace and quiet, particularly in the warm weather months, and this is preventing that.
I cannot attend tonight’s meeting but I thank Hillary and her fellow councilmembers for these proposals. For what it’s worth, we’live in the 4 acre zone so the houses are quite far apart but there is not one hour of any week that we can count on peace in our outdoor spaces. Nor indoors, for that matter.
I fully support a ban or restriction on gas-leaf blowers. Living on Kimberly Place – there are condos opposite us, our road has many houses down it and behind us is another private road, so the noise pollution is daily. The constant, noisy drone is a completely unnecessary assault on our ears and makes my allergies unbearable. Let’s follow the lead of our neighboring towns and enjoy the beauty of New Canaan without the pollution.
In today’s episode of “Let’s ban everything I don’t like” we talk about gas powered leaf blowers and the people who are in Nantucket for the entire summer but are obsessed with increasing the cost of yardwork for everyone.
Thank you for the heads-up about this meeting. Gas-powered leaf blowers are the perfect symbol of a very vulgar Me First culture. They’re impossibly loud, repulsively pollutant, deleterious to the health of those who operate them, and a notably lazy way to solve a nonexistent problem. There’s no credible argument for their use, and I’m honestly tired of hearing people try to make one. I’ve emailed the Town Council in favor of restricting gas-powered leaf blowers, and I truly hope that, at last, something will be done.
Laura— with your well written comments I personally understand you are not a fan of gas leaf blowers and my housing projects. For the trifecta — any comments on the possible reduction of the board of education budget? Thanks in advance
Well, Arnold, I’m mighty honored that you took a break from diving, Scrooge McDuck style, headfirst into your pool filled with gold coins to address me directly. Since you asked, I’ll simply say this: I don’t have kids—it was the safest way to shield myself from the disappointment of accidentally birthing a predatory developer with a predilection for the Hampton Inn aesthetic. And yet, like many, I contribute to New Canaan’s tax base. Degrees of magnitude less than you, for sure, but a tidy sum nonetheless. And my only wish in return for such largesse is that these bright young beacons of New Canaan’s future, these golden little gods upon whom we bestow hundreds of millions of dollars each decade, not ride their stupid little e-bikes in the middle of the street and yell at me to [expletive] myself as I drive by. It’s a modest request, but one I feel justified to make. So, until New Canaan’s stellar educational apparatus can manage that, I’m a-ok with the BoF asking them to trim a little fat. Cheers!