CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – No one is talking about sweeping the leaf-blower debate under the rug.
But Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos issued a memo this week that might keep the Town Council from pursuing an outright ban on the gas-powered landscaping equipment.
Council member Cam Hill kicked up dust nearly two months ago with his suggestion that this tree-thick college town outlaw the noisy blowers.
But after a review of the state constitution and case law, Karpinos and Town Manager Cal Horton said it might be better if the council considers setting noise and emission standards that could ward off some of the complaints about blowers.
Karpinos said in his Nov. 10 memo that the town could choose to stop using its own leaf blowers in parks, on road shoulders and on other public property. But he added that a townwide prohibition on gas-powered blowers would not likely survive a court challenge.
North Carolina towns and cities do not have home rule, the authority to enact local powers beyond those included in the state constitution, Karpinos pointed out. But state law permits a town to regulate noise or prohibit the emission of pollutants that could harm someone or keep a property owner from enjoying his or her space.
"I think the council needs to have some discussion about this," Mayor Kevin Foy said. "We've never really talked about it."
Those talks are set for Monday.
The council is slated to discuss whether to proceed with a public forum Jan. 24 or blow off the whole idea.
The proposed ban on gas-powered blowers has generated a lot of support and opposition.
Many professional landscapers and gardeners complain that such rules could be a real blow to their livelihood. Raking, one alternative that has been suggested, would take more time and more people, they say, and therefore cost more money.
They also say that lawn mowers, chain saws and other landscaping equipment is gas-powered and emits some of the same pollutants. So why, they ask, are leaf blowers being singled out?
Politically active environmentalists say it's not just the noise that bothers them. They say that blowers are used more and more as brooms and that occasionally they see landscapers at UNC-Chapel Hill chasing three or four leaves with a blower.