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SANTA CRUZ — To reduce air and noise pollution, the use of gas-powered leaf blowers may be a thing of the past in the city of Santa Cruz after the City Council approved the first reading of an ordinance banning the noisy landscaping implements at its meeting Tuesday.
According to the meeting’s agenda report, gas-powered leaf blowers “emit large amounts of carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons and fine particulate matter, contributing to smog and air pollution. Their two-stroke engines mix gasoline and oil, producing emissions more harmful than those from modern automobiles, impacting the health of the user and those in the surrounding environment.”
Additionally, the report pointed out that gas-powered leaf blowers “can be extremely loud,” and that while the device is running, noise levels can exceed 100 decibels, which is not only irritating, but can be harmful to the human ear if experienced over time.
In recognition of the implements’ impacts on the environment and people’s stress levels, the state passed Assembly Bill 1346, which went into effect Jan 1. and bans the sale of new gas-powered leaf blowers in California, but does not regulate the use of the gas-powered implements already in circulation.
The responsibility of regulating the gas blowers already out in the world is placed on local governments, and as the agenda report highlights, more than 50 California cities such as Los Gatos and Palo Alto have adopted bans or restrictions on the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution to phase out gas blowers earlier this year and will soon consider a similar ordinance to prohibit the implements countywide at its June 25 meeting.
At the Santa Cruz City Council meeting Tuesday, the city’s Sustainability and Resiliency Officer Tiffany Wise-West gave a presentation about the ordinance and its development.
“City staff and councilmembers had met as early, perhaps even further back, than 2021 with community groups including the Coalition for Healthy and Safe Environment, with their concerns over the health and emissions associated with gas-powered leaf blowers,” said Wise-West at the meeting. “In 2022, we incorporated that into the climate action plan and we have three explicit actions that consider small off-road engines including gas-powered leaf blowers.”
Wise-West added that in 2023, the Santa Cruz city manager directed city staff to develop the language of the ordinance and this year, the Santa Cruz City Council transferred the work of the ordinance to the Health in All Policies Committee, which held a public meeting about the ordinance in early April.
During the presentation, Wise-West outlined some of the health and environmental concerns associated with gas-powered blowers including the excessive noise and mentioned a statistic from the California Air Resources Board, which estimates that the emissions created by gas-powered leaf blower operating for one hour is equal to the emissions generated by a car traveling about 1,100 miles, or about the distance from Los Angeles to Denver.
The alternatives to gas-powered blowers, outside of rakes and brooms, can be expensive and don’t operate for as long a duration as those fueled by gas, Wise-West pointed out, and because of that, some exceptions are included in the draft ordinance.
Those exceptions included that the ordinance does not apply to the maintenance of parcels of 10 acres or more — the maintenance of DeLaveaga Park, Depot Park, Harvey West Park, Neary Lagoon, San Lorenzo Park, the Rail Trail, University Terrace Park, Riverwalk, and West Cliff — and that the ordinance does not apply to the use of gas-powered leaf blowers by emergency responders responding to an emergency or to save lives or property from imminent danger of loss or harm.
Enforcement of the ordinance would be facilitated by the city’s planning department and would include a warning for first-time violators and escalating fines for repeat offenders.
After the staff presentation and public comment, which included many speaking in favor of the ordinance and some against the exceptions presented, the City Council deliberated. Councilmember Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson proposed a motion that modified the exemptions to not include homeowners associations that are 10 acres or larger.
Blower Pressure The City Council voted unanimously to move ahead with the ordinance and a final adoption of the local prohibition will go before the council at its meeting June 25.