Town council liaison urges education-first approach on gas-powered leaf blower ordinance

Jen Zonis, a Democratic Town Council member and chair of the Town Council's Conservation Committee, told the Town Conservation Commission on Sept. 11 that the council's bylaws-and-ordinances committee is working on an early draft of a regulation addressing gas-powered leaf blowers and asked the commission to participate in education and implementation planning.

Zonis said the committee is taking public input and stakeholder feedback and is not presenting a finished proposal. "Instead of having just a hasty, you know, ram something through that didn't have a lot of thought to it, [we wanted to] take the time and to get input from the townspeople, but also from entities that are stakeholders in all of this," she said. She asked the conservation commission to consider a role in promotion, outreach and a nonpunitive first-response to complaints if an ordinance reaches the full council.

The proposal under discussion in the bylaws-and-ordinances committee remains at an early drafting stage and has not been posted as a final ordinance. Commission members and the council liaison discussed implementation options that would prioritize education and neighbor-to-neighbor outreach over immediate enforcement, including a mailed or emailed "first letter" that the town or commission would send as an initial notice and a public database of landscapers to facilitate compliance. Zonis framed the idea as a multi-step approach: informal notices first, then a possible second notice and only then a citation or ticket if necessary.

Commission members raised the recurring concerns that other nearby towns have experienced: uneven enforcement capacity at local police departments, the administrative burden of responding to many citizen calls, and the need to pair any restriction with clear implementation mechanisms. One commissioner said enforcement without a means to follow through undermines credibility and is often ineffective.

Zonis and commissioners also noted the commission already has historically used budgeted communications to mail conservation leaflets townwide; she suggested that the commission could use the same channels to publicize any new rules and create outreach materials that the town could distribute to landscapers and residents.

The commission voted unanimously at the meeting to add a discussion item led by Zonis to the present agenda so members could hear the council committee's early thinking and consider how the commission might assist. Zonis said the bylaws-and-ordinances committee will hold public committee meetings as it develops language and invited commission members to attend and offer input.

The commission and the council liaison discussed procedural constraints: if the council's committee advances an ordinance, it must go through established committee and full-council review; commission members were reminded not to discuss pending commission business outside public meetings. Zonis also noted the state requirement to provide an online option for public meetings implemented since the COVID pandemic.

Next steps identified at the meeting: the council committee will continue drafting the ordinance, the commission will consider a communications plan and budget line for outreach, and commission members were encouraged to attend the bylaws-and-ordinances committee meetings and to help shape educational materials if the committee requests assistance.