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Concerns over the deleterious effects on operator health and the environment, as well as noise pollution in general, have prompted city officials to look into the possibilities for a ban on extremely loud leaf blowers.
By Thalia Plata
A citywide ban of gas-powered leaf blowers was a major topic on the agenda at the Somerville City Council’s Legislative Matters Committee meeting on Thursday, January 16.
Councilors discussed a ban of leaf blowers that produce sound levels of 60 decibels or higher, which would consist of gas-powered leaf blowers and very loud electric leaf blowers. Use of all other leaf blowers would be restricted to an as of yet undecided time frame.
The proposal was first introduced at a City Council meeting on October 24, 2019. The ordinance proposal was sponsored by Ward 5 Councilor Mark Niedergang after a constituent brought to his attention the fact that one leaf blower emits as much pollution as hundreds of motor vehicles, and their noisiness can be as loud as 100 decibels, which can cause hearing loss to the operator.
The Somerville City Council’s Legislative Matters Committee deliberated on the leaf blower ban issue at their latest meeting.
Councilor Niedergang, and Ward 5 Resident Pamela Kennedy submitted a statement that said they are drafting the “strongest possible ordinance to ban, limit or regulate the use of gas-powered leaf blowers, as they are extremely noisy, pollute the air with gas fumes and fine dust particles that are harmful when airborne, especially to the operator, and are completely unnecessary for clearing leaves in Somerville.”
In an earlier Legislative Matters Committee Meeting, Hannah Pappenheim, of the City Solicitor’s Office, looked at two options for banning gas leaf blowers. One would be accomplished by revising the noise ordinance, which would address whether gas leaf blowers are louder than electric leaf blowers.
The second option focuses on the environmental effects, and would involve a longer process of working with the Board of Health, and would also need to be approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The Committee recognized that it would be difficult to enforce a ban based on noise violations due to it being primarily complaint-based.
The Legislative Matters Committee meets again on Thursday 28 at 6:00 p.m. on the second floor of City Hall.
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I do hope they ban these things. Awful monstrosities.
Ban them. Noise pollution, air pollution, obnoxious.
In the meantime, we have airplanes continually pounding the residents of Somerville at all hours of the day/night causing a far more severe public health hazard, but hey, let’s ban leaf blowers. How about making airplane noise and pollution a PRIORITY?
I was about to leave a pithy comment about nany-city, but then it occurred to me that those leaf blowers piss me off, so heck with them. Get a rake, people. It’s not like anyone here has any yard anyway.
I see the council is hard at work again telling residents what they can’t do rather than addressing the actual running of the city. Try doing real work on the dirty condition of the city, the traffic, the budget, the city’s trees.
I’ve never had a problem personally with a 60 dB leaf blower. If it did happen, it seems it’d be seasonal and not last very long. Certainly less than a neighbor using a circular saw or hammering away. Meanwhile, barking dogs, neighbor’s radios, drums, airplanes….
A couple of other communities have truncated their seasonal time for gas-powered leaf blowers to October 1 – December 1.
Great! I hope it goes through, and Somerville will join the hundreds of other communities that have placed restrictions on these devices that should not even be in production at all due to their absurd noise levels and pollution. While cars continue to produce less and less emissions, people still hold onto their GLBs with clenched fists. Limiting them as part of a noise ordinance doesn’t work (just ask L.A.) and neighbors asking neighbors to tone it down never works. Banning has become the only solution, and the landscape industry needs to get with the times. Their employees are suffering from migraines, hearing loss, and respiratory illnesses. Stop the madness.