By Sean Sullivan

It’s a sound synonymous with New England autumn.

The drone of a small gas-powered engine paired with the moan of high-speed air driven through a plastic tube. The instrument is the gas-powered leaf blower, and the symphony of sounds it produces can land as a seasonal assault to the senses of some residents.   

The leaf-blower’s whir is distinct from a lawn mower’s low hum, and the whistle of a weed whacker slicing through air and vegetation. Aside from the signature tone of this landscaping tool, another feature that frays the nerves of neighbors is how long the tune is sustained.

Landscapers make quick work of lawns, cutting grass in a matter of minutes. But corralling and hauling away those uncountable leaves often requires leaf blowers to drone on and on.

Natick recently joined a growing roster of communities that have or are considering bans on the machines. 

The town of Concord adopted the first phase of its ban in June, which prohibits the use of gas-powered leaf blowers on residential lots smaller than 1.5 acres. The ban applies to “hand-held” devices, which include popular backpack blowers.

But that ban as it stands is fairly toothless, as it makes an exception for their use during autumn months. That of course, is when leaves come down. 

The Concord measure starts to look like an authentic ban in 2028, when it prohibits the use of gas-powered blowers by landscapers. Two years after that, the ban is scheduled to bar their use by residents as well.

In the short term, that Concord ban seems to largely be a messaging measure. Its slow rollout and seasonal carveouts put landscapers and residents on notice that winds of change are beginning to blow.

That timeframe allows those parties a grace period to tinker with and grow accustomed to new technologies and techniques. Battery-powered leaf blowers have been commercially available for years, and are not subject to the bans being considered.            

Natick Town Meeting debated a likeminded measure recently, deciding to shelve the ban while legislators and stakeholders take more time to study and consider the matter.

Like Concord’s measure, the ban proposed for Natick would have provided for carveouts during spring and autumn. Starting in 2025 if adopted as written, the use of gas-powered blowers would still have been allowed between March 15th and May 15th, and October 1st through December 1st.

The ban was written to bar use of the machines year-round starting in 2027, with exceptions carved out for properties larger than 1.5 acres.    

“The objective is good,” said Bruce Evans. “The intent is good.”

Evans is Vice-Chair of Natick’s Select Board, and spoke to the environmental impacts of gas-powered leaf blowers, “which are admittedly pretty polluting.”

But Evans was also convinced of the limits of current battery-powered blowers. They’re not yet practical for landscaping companies, he said, which may service dozens of lawns on a given day. The ban being considered, he added, wasn’t nuanced enough to address those concerns.

During the comment portion of the meeting, representatives of landscaping businesses rose to voice their objections to the measure.

“There was no real differentiation between residential users and landscapers,” Evans said.

Also of concern was the enforcement side of the equation. Evans said the Police Department and Board of Health would need to play a role in implementing the ban, but that neither had yet been included in the deliberations.

“I’d want to have their input,” said Evans. Police would conceivably be called upon to deliver citations for violations of the ban. “Is that how we want our policemen to spend their time?”

The proposed ban provided for a warning for a first violation, and small fines for subsequent infractions.

Yet several residents and members voiced support for the spirit of the measure, citing its soft rollout and carveouts. Outright adoption of the ban wasn’t on the table at the meeting, as proper prior community notice hadn’t been given. A referral vote was the best the ban’s proponents could hope for at the time.  

“I rise in support of referral,” said David Krentzman at the meeting. He is a member of the town’s Community Preservation Committee. “Just like most things that need innovation, there is definitely resistance to change.”

And like Concord’s and other community efforts to move forward, Krentzman noted that the proposals are a first step in a long-term and deliberative decision.   

“Getting to more of an electric society, less polluting society. I applaud the effort to start the process.”