Leaf blower restrictions narrowly approved at Town Meeting

A new bylaw restricting the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in Lincoln was approved at Town Meeting by a leaf-thin six-vote margin after more than a dozen residents spoke passionately for and against the proposal.

The new bylaw allows residents to use gas-powered leaf blowers only during the fall and spring cleanup seasons with some exceptions, though electric and battery-operated machines can be used all year round. Police or the building inspector can issue a warning after the first violation and a $100 fine for subsequent violations of the bylaw, which takes effect on October 1.

• More coverage of the 2019 Annual Town Meeting in the Lincoln Squirrel tomorrow

Supporters argued that gas-powered leaf blowers are unacceptably noisy and polluting and harm Lincoln’s rural atmosphere. “Gas blowers are the most polluting machine ever made,” one resident said. “It fills my entire house with fumes… they’re very noisy, very polluting, and very stupid. Get an electric blower or a rake.”

Eric Harris, who lives near Route 2, said he doesn’t notice the highway traffic noise much, “but the difference when you have a leaf blower is enormous, not just decibels but the kind of noise it makes — it’s the kind of noise you can’t escape from. I wish this proposal had been more draconian than it is.”

“This is a reasonable solution to a problem that’s resulted in over 70 unsolicited complaints on our website,” said John Koenig, a member of the Leaf Blower Study Committee, which has been studying the issue for several years and proposed the bylaw.

Other residents in favor of the new rules said limiting the use of gas-powered leaf blowers is the responsible thing to do for the environment, given climate change and the particularly polluting exhaust of the two-stroke engines that many of the devices use.

But others said the bylaw was an overreach and unfairly singles out just one of many noise-producing landscaping devices. Some electric leaf blowers are no quieter than gas-powered models, and because they’re not as powerful, “they’re making just as much noise and they’re out there three or four times longer,” said Jeff Sutherland. Also, since gas-powered devices can still be used during primary leaf-clearing times of year, the regulation won’t have any effect during the periods of heaviest use, he added.

Ironically, the rural town character that the bylaw is trying to protect is also a cause of the problem, noted Margaret Olson. “We have leaf blowers because we have big pieces of property because of our zoning… if you’re banning a consequence of the look we’ve created in Lincoln, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”

“We are a rural town, and we have chainsaws, yard trimmers, lawn mowers and log splitters. These are the tools we use to maintain our property. Try farming without a tractor,” said Andy Payne.

“This issue really makes me sad. When we start legislating behavior against each other, there’s no end to it,” Noah Eckhouse said. Also, if police have to get involved in enforcing the new rules, “there’s a nonzero chance that our police force will be busy writing a ticket in some corner of town” when they’re needed for a medical emergency elsewhere, he added.

“There’s got to be a better way to do this. I’m really disappointed,” Eckhouse said.

It would be nice to be able to ask neighbors to tone down their use of noisy leaf blowers, “but I have businesses and condos around me, so I can’t do that. For those of you not surrounded by conservation land, it’s a real problem,” said Jessica Packineau.

Although the proposal needed only a simple majority to pass (because it is a general bylaw rather than a zoning bylaw), the voice vote sounded like a tie, which it almost was — the subsequent standing vote revealed a final tally of 112 votes in favor and 106 votes against.