New Canaan committee advances gas-blower limits, rejects reinstating strict electric-hour limits

The Town Council Bylaws & Ordinances Committee on Tuesday moved a draft ordinance restricting gas-powered leaf blowers to the full Town Council for a public hearing after hearing more than a dozen residents urge action on noise and pollution.

Chair Hillary Ormond said the draft now focuses on gas-powered devices and preserves the town’s existing noise ordinance; she told residents the committee will publish a redlined draft and schedule a full-council public hearing and vote.

Residents who spoke during the public-comment period described regular disruption from landscaper crews and urged townwide coverage. “I’d love for that to stop,” resident John Seal said, urging the committee not to carve out large properties. Several speakers raised environmental concerns and noise impacts on bird habitat; Marty McKay said gas blowers “rip all of the leaf litter that contains all the bugs that the mama birds wanna feed their little ones.”

Committee members debated several technical points in the draft. The committee unanimously adopted an edited definition of “summer season” — set as the Saturday immediately prior to Memorial Day through Labor Day — to align the ordinance’s effective window with holiday weekends.

A contentious vote followed on whether to add back previously removed hour restrictions for electric leaf blowers (an earlier draft had limited electric use to narrower hours). Chair Ormond and several members argued that restricting electric blowers would undercut an incentive for residents and landscapers to switch from gas to electric. Kim Norton voted in favor of reinstating time limits for electric blowers; Mike Roberts, Eric Lanham, Hillary Ormond and Christina Ross voted against the change, so the motion failed by a 4–1 margin.

The committee retained a single-use exemption for residents on hard surfaces (intended for brief tasks such as clearing a deck or sidewalk) and discussed, but did not add, a precise minute limit for that exemption, saying enforceability would be difficult.

Committee members also discussed enforcement, noting that the town’s existing noise ordinance remains in effect and provides an enforcement mechanism if devices exceed permitted decibel levels. Several residents suggested additional enforcement tools, including a reporting hotline or limiting the number of active blowers a landscaping crew may run at once.

The committee finalized next steps for the ordinance: the chair will publish the redlined draft for two weeks’ notice, the item will appear on the full Town Council agenda for a public hearing and then a council vote (the committee discussed a likely full-council hearing on May 20). The ordinance, as drafted, is limited to gas-powered leaf blowers and does not place new time restrictions on electric equipment.

What happens next: the committee’s draft will be published for notice and the full Town Council will hold a public hearing before any ordinance can take effect.