Vancouver Bans Leaf Blowers; Boulder, Phoenix Considering Same

More than 20 communities in California - a state with tight emission standards - have enacted bans or restrictions on gas-powered, two-stroke engine leaf blowers and another 80 cities have ordinances restricting usage, noise levels, or both, according to the February 2000 California Air Resources Board (CARB) report. The tools most often targeted have two-stroke engines, which burn a combination of oil and gasoline, because of their higher air and noise emissions compared to equipment with four-stroke engines. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, has recently passed time use restrictions that will lead to full bans by 2004, while time use restrictions or bans are being considered in Boulder, Colo., and Phoenix, Ariz.

VANCOUVER BANS BLOWERS AS OF 2004. On July 12, the Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, city council decided to completely ban gas-powered leaf blowers in the city by 2004. In the meantime, the council is drafting a bylaw that should go into effect in the fall of 2001 that will allow the use of leaf blowers only from October trough January and no closer than 50 meters from any residential building.

The B.C. Landscape & Nursery Association (BCLNA) worked with the city of Vancouver and the Parks Board to provide the potential impact of the city’s initial options for reducing blower noise, which included noise reduction levels, time use restrictions and outright bans. BCLNA successfully lobbied for noise restriction, to 65 decibels within 50 meters of a residence, and time restrictions to weekdays between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. and Saturdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. This final recommendation by the city manager was included in the council’s June 15 policy report.

However, testimony to council regarding the inability to enforce a decibel limit combined with decibel readings from a blower started up indoors at a city council meeting that reached 102 decibels prompted the council to favor an outright ban. As part of the testimony, Simon Foulds, a retired medical anthropologist, told the council that one hour of leaf blowing produces as much smog in an hour as 17 cars, according to a Vancouver Sun report.

Council’s rejection of BCLNA’s recommendations does not mean the fight is over, especially since the leaf blower ban will not go into effect until 2004.

BCLNA is working on a campaign to increase public knowledge of the impact a leaf blower-less landscape industry means to the city. In current education efforts, BCLNA noted the potential increase in labor costs through a survey of Vancouver landscape maintenance contractors showing the following comparison between the average time it takes to clean up areas using blowers vs. using alternate methods, such as sweeping, raking or washing:

Although seemingly not considered, the council’s June 15 policy report noted the implications a ban on leaf blowers would mean to the landscape industry. The report stated: "An outright prohibition of gas-powered leaf blowers … does ignore the reality that there may be some genuine uses for this equipment, and there may be ways for the industry to further mitigate the community impacts of the noise.

"An outright prohibition would have significant cost and operational implications to the landscape industry and to the Park Board," the report continued. "The industry and Park Board … concerns include increased safety and slipping hazards, a less clean city, increased costs passed on to the public (30 percent increases and higher), increased park maintenance budgets and an increase in the ‘black market’ for landscaping services."

BOULDER CONSIDERS BLOWER BAN. The Environmental Advisory Board in Boulder, Colo., recently asked the city’s environmental affairs staff to stop city crews and subcontractors from using leaf blowers and to explore whether the city could ban their use city wide, according to an article in the Boulder Daily Camera. Citing air and noise pollution concerns, the board is specifically against blowers powered by two-stroke gasoline engines. The Boulder Daily Camera mentioned Regional Air Council studies that said 6 percent of the volatile organic compound pollutants in the skies above the Denver-metro area is generated by hand-held, gas-powered tools - a category that includes other equipment besides blowers.

Dick Rush, owner of a Boulder parking lot cleaning business, told the Boulder Daily Camera that blowers allow one person to do the job of five people pushing brooms. "If you take my blowers away, I'll either have to move out of Boulder or lose a lot of customers due to the amount of money I'd have to charge for increased manpower," he told the paper.

The advisory board will receive more information at an August meeting and decide which restrictions, if any, to draft and send to city council for consideration.

PHOENIX EXPLORING BLOWER BANS. As part of its current general plan, the city of Phoenix, Ariz., is proposing studies that could greatly impact the city’s landscape market. The city is looking at potential bans on gas-powered leaf blowers and gas-powered lawn and garden equipment.

The general plan stated that the city will "support efforts to study and explore options for development of city policies to limit pollution from excessive vehicle idling, leaf blowers and other sources of pollution."

Additionally, the plan said the city will "study and explore options for prohibiting the use of gasoline-powered yard equipment, such as lawn mowers, tillers and air blowers."