New Canaan’s summertime ban on gas-powered leaf blowers is now in effect, following a referendum vote Saturday.
Though more local electors voted in favor of nixing the ban, not enough people came to the polls to overturn the Town Council’s 8-4 vote in May in favor of a new ordinance whose full text can be read here under “Exhibit A” (scroll down).
According to unofficial results released Saturday night by head moderator Bob Mantilia, 1,471 people voted “No” and 1,033 voted “Yes” on the following question:
“Shall the May 20, 2026 action of the Town Council approving an ordinance entitled ‘Gas Powered Leaf Blowers,’ which sets certain restrictions on their usage, be upheld?”
In order for the “No” votes to carry, two thresholds had to be met. Not only did more people have to vote “No” than “Yes,” but also 15% of the electorate as of the last completed voters’ list (which is 2,179 out of 14,526 people) had to vote “No.”
One advocate for the new ordinance, New Canaan resident John Seel, said when asked for his thoughts that “this was a very positive outcome.”
“As I’ve been saying, it upholds the democratic process in New Canaan,” Seel told NewCanaanite.com after the tally came in. “The decision of the Town Council back in May was an accurate reflection of the will of the people of New Canaan, as expressed through their democratically elected representatives. It was up to the opponents of the ordinance to show that that was not true, and they failed to do that because only 10% of the New Canaan electorate actually agreed with them. So this shows that actually the original decision was a democratic decision and was in line with the people and the democratic process worked. So I think it’s a positive and incredibly encouraging result, and I hope this will settle the issue, that there is clearly not enough opposition in New Canaan to overturn the decision that was made by the democratically elected Town Council.”
The referendum vote bookends a years-long debate in town regarding the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. Most recently, the town began to consider a possible ban or restrictions on gas-powered leaf blowers 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 tax-paying residents, as well as compliance and enforcement, which remains an open question.
Under the new ordinance, gas-powered leaf blowers are 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.”
As public hearings and Town Council deliberations unfolded in the weeks leading up to the legislative body’s vote in May, both sides grew increasingly heated. Immediately following the Town Council’s decision, opponents secured enough signatures to force a referendum vote, and both sides created their own websites, ran ad campaigns, wrote passionate letters in local news outlets, mixed it up in comment threads and put out lawn signs.
Electors cast about 900 absentee ballots—493 “No” and 402 “Yes”—while about 1,600 people went to the polls at New Canaan High School on a picture-perfect summer Saturday (970 “No” and 628 “Yes”) and the town received 11 “hand counts” (eight “No” and three “Yes”), according to the head moderator.
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