leaf blowers*

The town’s Leaf Blower Study Committee is asking resident to complete an online survey about leaf blower use in Lincoln as part of its research on noise and air pollution impacts of leaf blowers, possible alternatives and potential cost impacts.

Paper copies of the survey can be picked up and returned to the Town Office Building, Bemis Hall, the Lincoln Public Library, or the Parks & Recreation Department.

The panel will also hold a public meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the Donaldson Room at the Town Offices to give residents an opportunity to air their opinions and to hear what the committee is up to.

Formed as a result of a vote at the March 2013 Town Meeting, the Leaf Blower Study Committee has been meeting since July and will make a presentation at  Town Meeting this March. However, vice chair John Koenig in December said the group will not be proposing any  regulations for a vote at that time, saying at the December 16 Board of Selectmen meeting that it was “too soon.” Although the group has asked for a spot on the agenda, “we don’t really have a plan yet for what we’re going to do at Town Meeting,” he said.

With the help of the survey and other input, the committee hopes to find out “if we have a mandate at all” for restricting leaf blower usage, Koenig said. How to enforce any such regulations will also an issue, he added.

The committee has compiled research on the effects of leaf blowers, which members say include air and noise pollution from the two-stroke gasoline engines as well as pollution from particles blown into the air by the devices. These particles, which can remain airborne for up to three days, include dirt, road salt, animal feces and other substances in addition to bits of grass and leaves, Koenig said.

“What you end up with is an aerosol of a lot of offensive products,” he said. The machines can also cause horticultural damage by blowing off topsoil, he added.

Some commercial property owners use leaf blowers year-round to clear paths and paved surfaces of dirt and litter. In Lincoln, the “epicenter” of this type of use is in the Lincoln Station area, he said, but the town also uses leaf-blowers on recreation fields and other public property.

Perhaps driven by the wide availability of leaf-blowers themselves, standards have changed in recent decades. “There’s this notion that the place has got to look nice,” Selectman Renel Fredriksen noted.

Although alternative machines are being developed, “we know electric equipment is not commercial grade… there needs to be some better technology,” Koenig said. Alternatives might include using gas blowers only at the height of leaf season and electric ones at other times of the year, or having neighbors share an electric leaf blower and battery packs, or even subsidizing exchanges whereby residents could trade in gas-powered leaf blowers for electric models, Koenig said.

Selectman Noah Eckhouse said it was important to hear from all sides and “have a balanced outcome” before making any decisions. He noted that other outdoor equipment such as chainsaws also produce smoke and noise.

“It’s a quintessential Lincoln type of topic,” Board of Selectman Chair Peter Braun said.