Newton City Councilors will consider a summer leaf blower ban (Memorial Day to Labor Day) this Monday, Nov. 21.
Details about the proposal here.
Good idea? Bad idea?
City Council to consider summer leaf blower ban on Monday
by Greg Reibman | Nov 18, 2016 | City Council, Newton | 35 comments
@Greg: You forgot to include the Leaf Blower Amendment Matrix found here: http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/79150.
This shows the various amendments that have been introduced to key elements of the proposal.
The proposed ordinance that was passed by the Programs and Services Committee can be found here: http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/79148 and the amended ordinance that was approved by Finance Committee can be found here: http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/79149.
I’ll be sure to include this in my weekly email and on my website: www. amysangiolo.com
Thanks Councilor Sangiolo
So this will prevent a homeowner from using a single leaf blower during the summer at their house?
@ Randy
YES- Homeowners cannot use Leaf Blowers either during this Ban.
The only places that will be able to use Leaf Blowers are the TAX EXEMPT Colleges and the County Clubs. They DONT pay Taxes to Newton but the Newton Councilors are allowing them to apply for Exemptions. Which will be allowed and was advocated by the attorney the Country Clubs/Colleges hired – Stephen Buchbinder. Pretty Ironic they make LOTS of money, don’t pay any taxes to the City and will be able to use Leaf Blowers. Wonder how the homeoners that border the Country Clubs and Colleges will feel about that?
@Joanne: You may disapprove of an exception for colleges or golf courses for a variety of plausible reasons but tax status? What DOES that have to do with it?
@Greg – They dont pay taxes like homeowners but they will be able to keep their courses pristine. If their course is NOT pristine they will lose their members and their membership fees. They make money for their college or Country Club yet dont pay anything to the city – yet they are being given exemptions by the Newton City Councilors which is alot more than the homeowner will get? They are being given more benefits than a residents who pays taxes. And you dont think that is a problem? Why are they being given this exemption when they dont pay taxes and the taxpaying homeowners are being penalized? Maybe you should explain why you think it is OK that they should be given exemptions.
@Joanne: Are we debating leaf blowers or tax status? Newton doesn’t have any for profit colleges but are saying you’d be OK if for profit schools were exempt, just not the non-profits? Really, I don’t understand your point.
@AB: I’m very sorry to hear about your child. Have you considered speaking with your neighbors who quite possibly do not know that he is ill or having difficulty resting? I’m guessing someone would speak to your neighbors on your behalf if you felt uncomfortable doing so. I would do it if you like, you can reach me though the contact us function on our homepage.
Nobody should be exempt. My neighbor is out there right now with a 90dB leaf blower practically under our windows. Another one was doing likewise for over an hour earlier this afternoon. The windows are rattling and my son, who is undergoing chemotherapy, is trying to rest. Is this what you really want: so-called ‘pristine yards’ in which your lawns look like your living room carpets, without having to put any effort into some raking? I was a caddy at a very ritzy golf course when I was a teen, some 60 years ago. Leaf Blowers? Like Heck! Total B.S.! You people are sicker than my son, but yours is between your ears!
I’ve spoken with them very politely about it in the past. Their opinion is it’s their right do do whatever they want, and the heck with everyone else. One of them even gave me ‘the finger’. They know I’m not going to call the police on neighbors, and the police can’t do anything about it, anyway. I’d also have to grovel and beg the landscapers, who are even louder, blasting away up and down the street, almost all day, every day, and who obviously don’t care about anything but their own profit. At-a-way, Newton! Yeah, I know, we should leave. But why us? Oh, okay, you win! Heaven forbid any of you should put in some effort with a rake, or even leave some leaves around! Blast away! Good luck!
@AB: If they really were using a 90dB leaf blower (although I don’t know how you know that with certainty) then you certainly have cause to call the police. And I find it hard to believe that your neighbors, landscapers AND our police would be unsympathetic to a person whose child is undergoing chemo. Really, you are entitled to ask someone for assistance. If it was my kid, I’d do it. You should too.
Greg. I agree. People have to be willing to ask for help. Most people, including landscapers, are probably decent people. They would do the right thing under those circumstances, but you have to be willing to ask them.
Greg – I dont understand your point – so you are OK with the Waiver for the Golf Courses and the Colleges? So it is OK with you that they are able to use the leaf blower in the summer but homeowners cant? And you dont have a problem that the Councilors are giving an exemption to 2 entities that do not pay taxes to the City? And they are penalizing the rest of us? Maybe Newton Homeowners should hire Buchbinder to negotiate for them!
Maybe you can explain why you are OK with them getting exemptions and not also the homeowners.
@Joanne: I didn’t realize that you didn’t understand the argument for the golf course exemption. After all you’re the one who wrote:
I’m guessing you are not a golfer, neither am I. But hundreds, likely thousands, of Newton residents are and many enjoy golfing at Brea Burn, Woodland or Charles River Country Clubs and want these Newton-based businesses to succeed. And yes, golfers at these clubs have come to expect certain standards, including the quality of the putting greens, which cannot be raked without harming them.
So even though I don’t golf, I can empathize with their reasoning and so, it seems, do some City Councilors. So yes I support a compromise which would safeguard our golf courses and still provide additional consideration and relief to their neighbors.
Why is that a bad thing?
Riebman, you miss the point entirely. Good luck to you.
@AB: I apologize in advance for this but — following an election season where it seems that facts were frequently manufactured to fortify political arguments — I have to ask:
Is your son really “undergoing chemotherapy [and] trying to rest”? Or did you just make that up? (In which case you fooled both Bob and me.)
Again, I’m sorry for you and your family if it’s true and you really should let someone help you with the noise problems in your neighborhood for your son’s sake. If not, I feel sorry for you but in a different way.
Thanks Joanne, but my comment had nothing to do with taxes. This really seems like our councilors trying to address the concerns of the vocal minority. I would assume that the vast majority of residents assume that their elected officials would not prevent them from cleaning up their yard with a leaf blower, any more than they would prevent them from using a circular saw at over 100 dB to build a dog house, tree fort, or raised planter bed. Snowblowers are twice as loud as a leaf blower. If this passes, every councilor should be prepared for the shock and awe that comes when their constituents first get warned, and then get fined, for using something that has been around for 60+ years. What’s next? Outlaw chainsaws which are literally twice as loud as leaf blowers? We should all go back to axes and saws for tree work. Next step is that we can all start walking, because cars, buses, trains, planes, and even fuel powered boats are too loud. Diesel trucks also exceed the dB of a leaf blower, and therefore we should shut down our import and export in the country. Garbage disposals and dishwashers also exceed the dB of a leaf blower. Hope everyone is ready to hand wash their dishes, and, remove their garbage disposals. Jets, lawnmowers, and farm tractors are out, so we should be prepared to not fly, mow, or eat.
What difference if i’m lying or not? You believe anything, anyway, like there can’t be any golf w/o leaf blowers! You like being laughed at? Guess what the landscapers are doing. They own you, sucka!
And that friends is the status of political discourse in 2016.
@AB: This will be my final comment to you: Rather than discussing this issue on its own substantive merits, you impugned the reputation of the people of Newton by suggesting that they are so callous that they would run a 90dB leaf blower under your sick son’s window and not care. You implied that the Newton police would not do anything to assist your sick son either. Presumably you lied about someone giving you the finger as well.
I know the people of Newton and our police to be basically good, not the portrait you painted. Shame on you. Please find yourself a different blog.
Non-Political Question: Looking at the proposed language, is there a date when the new rules would be in effect? Or is it effective immediately if approved? Just looking at ~150 bags worth of wet leaves that are still in my yard…
Greg – Are you sure about the statements you made? I seem to recall a study being done (when Vicki Danberg was looking at removing the tax exempt status for golf courses in Newton) that found most members were not Newton residents.
Golf courses tax exempt status seems to be a subsidy from Newton taxpayers to golfers. What are the economic benefits the courses provide to Newton?
All this talk about tax status has me confused. Do people want a leaf blower ban to reduce noise and other forms of pollution or to seek revenge at tax exempt institutions? Are those same people saying that if golf clubs or colleges paid property taxes then they should have carte blanche to annoy neighbors as much as they want, but since they don’t they shouldn’t?
Please note, I’m not saying the issue of tax exempt status for golf clubs isn’t worth discussing — only that it has nothing to do with leaf blowers.
@Lucia: Brea Burn says it has 200-plus member families that are Newton residents. I don’t know the numbers for Woodland or Charles River but anecdotally, I know lots of residents who belong to one or the other. But, again, I’m not sure what membership numbers have to do with leaf blowers.
@Brant: The ordinance up for consideration calls for a leaf blower ban from Memorial Day to Labor Day only.
I think the golf courses get tax exempt status along with their guarantee, for a certain number of years, that they will not develop them. Isn’t that why the city put them in the SHI land area computation? Don’t know if this is good tax policy or not.
It seems the exemption was controversial among council members as it’s been added, deleted then added again. Wasn’t Councilor Gentile, who has his own column of amendments, partially involved in getting the tax exempt status applied to golf courses? I’m not sure another exemption for leaf blowers is appropriate. Or for BC?
There is some confusion in the previous comments about the exemption for colleges and golf courses. There is no exemption from the summer ban for colleges and golf courses; the only exemption has to do with Sundays during the rest of the year.
The P&S proposal has no exemption for colleges and golf courses at all, whereas the Finance Committee proposal has a limited exemption for colleges and golf courses from the ban on commercial use on Sunday. They would be allowed to use blowers on Sunday from 9:30-12:00 (except during the summer). Homeowners are already exempt from that rule — they would be allowed use blowers on Sunday from 9:30-5:30 (except during the summer).
@Irwin: There is a proposed amendment that is being circulated by some city councilors for consideration at Monday’s meeting which would allow during the Memorial Day to Labor Day period…
For people like me who work at home, retirees, stay-at-home parents, and others who are at home most of the time, the noise from yard equipment is a problem all day every day for much of the year. Even with the windows closed I sometimes have to wear ear plugs under noise-canceling headsets just to get my work done.
Some have expressed concern that these restrictions would make the landscaper’s jobs impossible or increase costs for residents. My own personal experience shows that this is not true. Several years ago I asked my landscaper to use a low decibel leaf blower and he complied without any increase in cost. Later, I asked that he not use a leaf blower at all during the summer and he complied without any increase in cost.
At the Finance Committee Meeting three weeks ago, one of the landscapers stated that all leaf blowers were 65 DB or less at the time the 65 DB limit was set in the current noise ordinance; perhaps those blowers were less powerful but somehow they were able to get the job done. Furthermore, as was pointed out at the Finance Committee meeting this week, manufacturers have learned to make quieter blowers more powerful so now we don’t have to sacrifice power to get a more reasonable sound level.
The Newton noise ordinance states: “it is the policy of the City of Newton to prevent excessive sound which may … degrade the quality of life.”
There is nothing that the City Council can do to improve the quality of life in Newton more than limiting the excessive noise from yard equipment. Please, City Councilors, the people of Newton who are home during the day are asking for your help.
Thank you Greg – My question was really oriented towards the next month as I just bought a new 4 cycle blower with lower carbon emissions – which is rated at 75 db and which I suspect will now be “illegal” when it is needed over the next couple of weeks. In spite of the bag count, I believe in doing my own leaves… Unfortunately, they do need to be picked up one way or another. Thx.
@Brant: Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe your 75 dB leaf blower may already be illegal under our current ordinance.
Also as a comment for others, it is ridiculous to prevent RESIDENTS from briefly using an “approved” blower during the Memorial Day to Labor Day moratorium period. The alternative for grass clippings on a sidewalk / driveway is to just run the lawnmower over it multiple times to blow them away (which is obviously > 65 db). Yes, I recognize that someone should use a broom, etc. – which just isn’t practical with most situations.
This is my plea to have a summer ban on leaf blowers. I am writing from the point of view as a runner, someone who spends a lot of time outdoors. I have trained for and run 11 Boston Marathons, so in that time I have had ample opportunity for observation.
During the summer, they are used on dirt, debris and whatever happens to be on peoples’ driveways and sidewalks. This debris isn’t even cleaned up, it is merely rearranged. I can’t tell you how many times I see leaf blowing personnel blowing dirt and debris from one person’s driveway and sidewalk onto the neighbor’s property, or onto the street. Many times running West on Comm Ave, I’ll observe a landscaping company using leaf blowers to blow stuff from their customer’s property onto the neighbor’s adjacent property in order to leave their customer’s property pristine. And – on my way back, running East, I will then see that adjacent neighbor, with a different landscaper, blowing the dirt and debris either back onto the original property where it came from, out into the street, or onto the property on the other side. Nothing is being cleaned, stuff is just being blown all over the place. And many times onto me, as well.
Leaf blowers are really loud and I believe many are probably over the decibel level allowed. However, I know realistically that this is not going to be a high priority for our police officers, and therefore it is an un- enforced law. At least if there is a seasonal ban, we can have a period of time without that constant noise.
Last, it is disingenuous for landscapers to claim the prices are going to rise if they have to rake. When my old landscaper started using leaf blowers, my bill did not go down with this purported time savings. After learning more about the health risks of leafblowers and just not liking the noise, I have since switched to a gardener who rakes only, and the cost is the same.
Thank you for reading this, I would just like to have a few months to enjoy being outside.
When do we ban snow blowers? When do we ban lawn mowers? When do we ban kids playing outside?
I use a leaf blower for home lawn maintenance. It has probably saved me from a fair amount of back problems.
I honestly am shocked that our town is considering a ban like this. Going too far.
Yes, Greg, the noise ordinance limits leaf blowers at 65 decibels. What really annoys me is the notion that this 65 limit is ‘unenforceable’ because not all patrol cars carry noise meters and because it is hard to measure. Don’t we, the residents, deserve some consideration and quiet neighborhoods?
@Keith – i’m good with banning snow blowers along with leaf blowers in the summer months.
@Jerry. And a special discount on the electric bill for folks that run their air conditioning systems in February when demand is low.
Yes, let’s do both.
Jerry – LOL. Sounds good. Admittedly, I don’t use the blower much during the summer months but I have had occasion to use it to blow stuff out of my gutters … one blower can get a long span of gutter clear, vs having to go up and down a ladder several times, sometimes two stories. The right tool for the job, which can save a lot of work and aggravation, is sometimes a leaf blower!
Seriously — the amount of regulation from the nanny state is out of hand. For such a liberal town, our desire to impose on the liberties and freedoms of our towns folk remains high!