Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Leaf Blower Ordinance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Conservation commission endorses draft leaf‑blower ordinance, will press town council for edits
Summary
The New Canaan Conservation Commission voted to endorse a draft ordinance restricting gas-powered leaf blowers seasonally and will send an endorsed version — with suggested fixes — to the town council for further drafting and public hearing.
The Conservation Commission voted to endorse a draft ordinance limiting gas-powered leaf blowers in New Canaan and will ask the town council to consider the commission’s suggested edits.
A committee member who summarized the ordinance said the proposal would enact a seasonal ban on gas-powered blowers from Memorial Day to Labor Day while allowing electric blowers and personal-use carve-outs. He told the commission that the draft had attracted “quite a lot of public comment, largely supportive,” though a minority had opposed it.
During discussion commissioners flagged drafting errors they said could create loopholes — notably that the text as circulated did not cover push-style blowers the drafters intended to capture, and that permitted hours for electric blowers were unclear. The committee member argued those gaps matter because landscapers could switch to machines exempted by the current wording; another member suggested asking the council to clarify the hours and explicitly include push blowers before final adoption.
The committee member described health and environmental rationales behind the proposal, saying, “An hour of running a two‑stroke engine is the same as driving an SUV 1,000 miles in terms of air pollution,” and added that noise and worker exposure are also concerns. Commissioners also raised whether an ordinance should limit the number of machines running simultaneously on large properties, noting some neighboring towns include such caps.
A motion to endorse the circulated draft — with the understanding that a designated commissioner would attend the town‑council hearing and propose edits — was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote. The draft had been circulated to commission inboxes but was not yet posted publicly as of the meeting.
Next steps: the commission will have a commissioner attend the town‑council meeting to present the endorsement and request the drafting clarifications discussed by the commission. The town council will set the public‑hearing schedule and may edit the language further.
