Landscapers challenge Westport’s proposed leaf blower ordinance
WESTPORT — A debate around a proposed ordinance that would restrict gas-powered leaf blowers have left many residents choosing to pick sides on the benefit of the ordinance. Some residents who are also in the landscaping business have agreed that the pollution that some landscaping equipment causes needs to be address, however, they believe that as the ordinance is currently written, it poses lots of negative impacts to the landscaping community.
Jason Canepari, buildings, grounds and environment manager at the Fairfield County Hunt Club said the proposed legislation does not take into consideration the “adverse effects” it would have on the landscaping industry.
“Landscapers don’t want to hurt the environment or peoples health,” Canepari said. “They employ the best tools for the job available at the time. When electrics become quieter and stronger, they will be used.”
Canepari said in his capacity at the Hunt Club, they employ noisy equipment to make sure manure and other contaminants don’t find their way into catch basins, which ultimately lead into the Long Island sound. Leaves and other compostable material are also picked up and sent to be made into compost like mulch or wood chips.
He said the landscaping industry is highly competitive and for them to do the work like the examples mentioned, the crews need blowers to help get their work done efficiently year round.
“Arborists and custom grounds licensed supervisors in this state actually do more for the environment than all the homeowners combined without the help of misguided local authorities who actually have no idea of the inner workings of our industry, or the unintended consequences of legislation such as this,” Canepari said.
The ordinance proposes that no more than one leaf blower can be used at the same time on any site less than two acres, no gaspowered leaf blower can be used on any state or federal holiday and no leaf blower of any kind can be used before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m.
The goal of the ordinance is to reduce pollution and noise.
Kristin Schneeman, the Representative Town Meeting member who created the ordinance, said she’s not proposing a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers, however the core of the ordinance is to place seasonal
restrictions, mainly in the summer.
“Most people’s complaints about gas-powered leaf blowers are the noise and the noise nuisance and I’m certainly one of those people,” Schneeman said. “I’ve worked from home for ten years so everyone pandemic reality of working from home and trying to do zoom calls when there’s five guys with leaf blowers across the street has been my reality for quite a while.”
“I think it’s a really quality of life thing and it has only got worse, I can testify,” she added. “Honestly, I don’t know if I would had got activated around this issue and proposed this ordinance if it was just the noise nuisance. I’ve really learned a lot in the last 18 months about the health and environmental problems that gas-powered leaf blowers pose.”
Schneeman said gaspowered leaf blowers, specifically the blowers that are handheld, backpack blowers with two-stroke engines, emit more pollution the automobiles. She said the state of California has recognized that lawn equipment in general and specifically leaf blowers are “major” contributors to pollution problems.
“Those emissions are really harmful to the operators as well as people who are in close proximity,” Schneeman said. “They emit shocking amounts of cancer causing emissions.”
Schneeman said if Westport enacts this ordinance, they would be apart of more than 200 communities across the country that have already placed restrictions on leaf blowers. By placing a restriction on leaf blowers in the summer, she said workers would
still be able to do their job with the blowing power afforded by electric blowers.
Robert Iannacone, a Westport resident and owner of Perfect View Landscaping, said while he agrees with the noise nuisance as a resident, as a landscaper the ordinance is too “premature” and “poorly written.”
“It was absolutely poorly written without any thought process to the people who actually do the work,” Iannacone said. “This could have been a lot smoother if the proposed ordinance was actually vetted with the industry and it wasn’t.”
“We are stewards of the environment in many ways and most legal companies we want to do the right thing for the environment,” he added. “We’re not out there trying to destroy the environment, but when you look at the proposed oridance it’s pretty much is a ban whether they say it is or it isn’t.”
Iannacone said regardless of the seasonal restriction, the ordinance becomes a ban on gaspowered blowers when it limits landscapers to one gas-powered blower and not understand how landscapers work. He added when you also look at the technology of the electricblowers “they’re years away from being comparable to what we used today.”
“You’re asking us to go to a blower that is less efficient and much more expensive,” Iannacone said. “If we are going to a battery mentality, we are dealing with 50 percent less power.”
Iannacone said this is an ordinance that doesn’t have to be written since major manufacturers of landscaping
equipment are already converting to battery technology. He said during the spring he is already planning to convert his weed wackers and trimmers to battery. While the change is a little more expensive he said it is beneficial because the productivity level of the trimmers are as good as what he uses today, plus he would no longer be buying gas and polluting.
He said the technology with gas-powered leaf blowers and electric leaf blowers are just not comparable yet.
“This will happen because technology will take us there,” Iannacone said. “It just doesn’t make sense at this point.”