A group hoping to limit the use of gas-powered leaf-blowers in Lincoln will hold a public forum on Thursday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Town Office Building to discuss regulations that will be voted on at the Annual Town Meeting in March.
The Leaf Blower Study Group (now a subcommittee of the Conservation Commission) is proposing a bylaw that would place limits on when leaf blowers can be used. It would allow use of any type of leaf blowers in the fall and spring but only electric machines in the summer, and it would prohibit their use entirely from December 16 to April 14. From June to September, leaf blower use would be permitted during certain hours seven days of the week, though on Sundays, only residents of the property on which the leaf blower is being used may do so.
Leaf blowers could be used at any time for public safety and emergency situations, such as for cleanup after storms. The town’s building inspector could also grant one-day exemptions for users dealing with special situations and not ongoing routine maintenance, and there would be no rules on decibel levels.
“The idea is to regulate leaf blower use, not eliminate it,” group vice chair John Koenig explained in a presentation to the Board of Selectmen in December.
“It’s noncontroversial — there are so many studies that there is consensus that this is toxic and carcinogenic,” said Jamie Banks, chair of the group, which has gathered extensive research on the issue. Leaf blowers pose a health risk from airborne particles and exhaust, as well as noise pollution, research shows. Fuel spillage and maintenance chemicals are also harmful to the environment.
“The proposed bylaw is not a ban, but [instead] places reasonable limits on the use of noisy, polluting blowers for reasons of health, environment, and quality of life,” Banks said.
The Board of Health agreed in 2015 that “exposure to high-intensity, episodic or long-duration noise and air particulate and vapor dispersion from leaf blowers represents significant potential health hazards to our citizens” and members supported “efforts to craft effective and economically sound approaches to mitigate those health risks.”
The issue first came before the town in 2015, when the group proposed more sweeping restrictions. They submitted a citizens’ petition for a Town Meeting vote but later withdrew the item in the face of opposition and opted for more public education instead.
Thanks to its efforts and equipment demonstrations since 2015, town maintenance workers now use electric leaf blowers when possible, and property owners including the Rural Land Foundation have limited the use of the machines in the mall area, because the health risks of leaf blowers are much higher when they’re used to clear dirt and debris from hard surfaces such as sidewalks and streets.
“Now we feel like we’re ready for the next step,” Conservation Commission chair Peter von Mertens said, referring to the proposed bylaw.
At their December meeting, selectmen were initially lukewarm to the proposed bylaw, since there had been little public communication about it to that point (such as during November’s State of the Town meeting) and no formal solicitation of opinion since a 2014 survey.
“I would like to know more about the extent to which the people in Lincoln think this is a problem to be solved immediately,” Selectman Jonathan Dwyer said. “I feel like we have a lot of problems in town to solve right now and people only have a certain amount of capacity to deal with all of them.”
“I just have the sense there will be lots of questions raised” about how the leaf blower group formulated its proposed regulation, Selectman Jennifer Glass said.
“It would be very helpful for me” to hear feedback from public outreach before deciding on his stance on the proposal, Selectman James Craig said. The board will vote on whether to endorse the bylaw in early March.
Banks noted that public education was more difficult before the group became formally aligned with the Conservation Commission because it had no budget; “it was not due to lack of intent or effort.”
I disagree that this proposal is non-controversial and I strongly urge Lincoln residents to oppose it. The proposal limits my rights to use my leaf blower responsibly and with no harm to my neighbors. The committee should adopt a leaf blower use guideline and focus on education instead of rules that limit their reasonable use.
I agree that the wanton use of leaf blowers can be both an environmental and health problem but many homeowners such as me live on the edge of a forest where leaves blow in and become lodged in gutters and corners around the house. This happens year round and I use a leaf blower to help dislodge them. I don’t use lawn services that over use them. I live hundreds of yards from my nearest neighbor. As a result, when I use a leaf blower, it causes none of the harm that the proposers of this ban refer to. I can’t always limit my use to the hours proposed. None of these restrictions should apply to individual homeowners using leaf blowers themselves on properties over two acres.
It’s great that this group of citizens has been able to get the town to use leaf blowers more carefully in public areas and to get more people to use electric leaf blowers. I believe that the first step as described in this article is a good result.
This next step as proposed is an overreach. I understand that it is well intentioned but it goes way too far and limits the ability of homeowners to do act reasonably — even if while simultaneously preventing some unreasonable use. If it is passed, my only alternative will be to ignore the ban and use my leaf blower when I need to. No one will know, especially in winter when they are indoors ¼ mile away, with their windows shut. And each time I have to do that, I’ll rue the day that the majority of my neighbors somehow found themselves justified to deny me the right to act responsibly on my own property.
We’re better than this. We can do better than this.
Adding in the times
During the times of year when leaf blowers may be used, as specified in Section B, leaf
blowers may be used only during these hours:
1. Mondays through Fridays from 7AM to 6PM,
2. Saturdays from 9AM to 5PM, and
3. Sundays and legal holidays from 9AM to 5PM, but only operated by residents of the
property on which the leaf blower is used.