News

Palo Alto looks to crack down on gas-powered leaf blowers

New rules would send fines, give city officials more power to issue citations to violators

The Palo Alto City Council will consider of Feb. 6, 2023, new rules to strengthen enforcement of the city's ban on gas-powered leaf blowers. Embarcadero Media file photo by Veronica Weber.

Nearly two decades after Palo Alto adopted a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers in residential areas, both the appliance and the public opposition to them remain as loud as ever.

In 2022 alone, the city had received about 450 service requests pertaining to the noisy devices, according to a new report from the Department of Planning and Development Services, up from 242 in 2021 but roughly aligned with the number of requests in 2018 and 2019. And the City Council periodically hears from residents who bemoan the hazardous impacts of gas-powered leaf blowers on health and the environment, as well as the city's haphazard response.

Strikingly, between 75% and 90% of the requests in any given year come from the top 10 service requesters, according to the report, a figure that points to the city's chronic failures to address the problems, even if they are identified and reported.

Last year, more than 200 people signed a petition led by Helene Grossman, a leading advocate of strengthening enforcement of the city's ban on gas-powered leaf blowers, which has been on the books since 2000. In May, Grossman requested that the council expand public education and a trade-in program that would offer gardeners a gas-powered leaf blower with a rebate for an electric one. At a public meeting, she recited portions of emails she had received from several residents who were complaining about the seemingly ever-present fumes and noise. One was from a writer whose child has asthma and who had trouble breathing near leaf blowers.

"I get lots and lots of emails from people who are very upset about leaf blowers in the city," Grossman told the council.

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Barry Katz, one of many local residents to advocate for improving enforcement of leaf blowers in recent years, told this news organization that the problem became more pronounced during the early days of the pandemic, when many people began to work from home.

"This just became an intolerable situation," Katz said.

To date, however, the city's enforcement efforts have been mostly futile. Part of that has to do the nature of the violation — by the time code enforcement comes around, the gardener and their leaf blower are usually gone. Another part, however, has to do with local law. After receiving a report of a leaf blower violation, the city sends a letter to the property owner and then follows up with a site visit a few weeks later in an attempt to verify the violation, according to the staff report. More often than not, the report notes, staff is unable to validate the violation and the case is closed.

On the off-chance that the violation is observed, the city sends a notice citing the violation and informing the property owners that they need to take corrective action. Validating either compliance or violations is difficult because it requires three consecutive site visits and enforcement officials can't be certain when the leaf blowing will next occur. In the highly unlikely event that a citation is issued, it amounts to $100 for the first violation, with escalations to $150 and $300 for the second and third, respectively. The new report notes that aside from three citations that had been issued within the past six weeks, staff is "not aware of any other gas-powered leaf blower citations being issued."

"The regulatory framework in the City's municipal code makes it difficult to observe and cite the gas-powered leaf blower operator — the code does not allow issuance of an immediate citation with the first observed violation," the report states.

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Now, the council is hoping to change that. With momentum against gas-powered leaf blowers picking up across the state, the council is preparing to approve on Monday a series of changes that would add fuel to the city's enforcement efforts.

One change would abolish an existing policy that requires enforcement officers to issue a "notice of violation" to the leaf-blowing scofflaw and give them a chance to come into compliance before they get a citation. The new law would empower the enforcement officer to issue a citation immediately when they observe someone using a gas-powered leaf blower in a residential neighborhood.

Another change would raise the fines to $250 for the first violation and to $500 and $1,000 for second and third violations, respectively. This, according to staff, will bring the violation in alignment with misdeeds such as littering and smoking in restricted areas.

The revised law would also specify that it's the property owner, rather than the operator of the leaf blower, who is liable for the violation. The city will thus be able to hold property owners responsible for "knowingly permitting the use of gas-powered leaf blowers by an 'operator' on their residential property," according to the staff report.

"With this change, upon a code enforcement officer observed violation, a warning would be issued to the property owner that puts them on notice that they are permitting an operator to use a gas-powered leaf blower on their property. If an officer observes this a second time, the property owner could be cited," the report states.

Palo Alto, which adopted its ban in 2005, isn't the only city that has taken a stance against these noisy appliances. Menlo Park, which saw its original ban on the appliance overturned by voters in a 1998 referendum, is preparing to start once again enforcing its prohibition in July 2024. Los Altos banned them in 1991, becoming the first city in the area to do so.

The movement has also spread across the state thanks in part to Assembly Bill 1346, legislation by Assembly member Marc Berman, that directs the California Air Resources Board to adopt regulations for banning new "small off-road engines" (a category that includes gas-powered leaf blowers) by 2024. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law in October 2021.

In addition to setting new rules for landscapers, Palo Alto is switching its own leaf blowers from gas to electric. According to staff, the Community Services Department, which oversees parks and open spaces, already uses battery-powered backpack blowers most of the time, though it makes exceptions in areas where the equipment isn't strong enough to remove debris or plant material, according to staff. Public Works crews currently have a mix of gas-powered and electric leaf blowers, the report states, though it is poised to replace all handheld gas-powered leaf blowers this year.

Katz said the proposed moves are a step in the right direction, particularly the city's determination that it's the property owners, not the gardeners, who are liable for violations. Behind most of the efforts that he has participated in, there is a strong desire not to penalize the gardeners, who he said are in most cases working for someone else. And, as a practical matter, they are harder to penalize because they don't stay at the location for too long.

"Gardeners are gone in a few minutes — they mow, they blow and they drive off, trying to get to as many jobs as possible," Katz said. "Housing and apartment buildings aren't going anywhere. It's much easier and ethically reasonable to target the property owners."

He observed that the situation has quieted down somewhat since last summer, a welcome trend that may be related to the recent wave of citizen advocacy and the growing publicity around the issue. Most, though not all, of the gardeners he sees these days have switched to electric leaf blowers, he said.

New state regulations may have accelerated the trend. And it probably didn't hurt that the city restored last year a code enforcement officer position that was slashed at the onset of the pandemic. But whether this newfound era of quieter yards persists remains for Katz an open question.

"Palo Alto has a history of coming down on this and it gets better and backing off and it gets worse," Katz said. "It's gone up and down and up and and now it's up. We may be in a lull now, but it's probably not enough to say the problem is solved."

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Gennady Sheyner
 
Gennady Sheyner covers the City Hall beat in Palo Alto as well as regional politics, with a special focus on housing and transportation. Before joining the Palo Alto Weekly/PaloAltoOnline.com in 2008, he covered breaking news and local politics for the Waterbury Republican-American, a daily newspaper in Connecticut. Read more >>

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Palo Alto looks to crack down on gas-powered leaf blowers

New rules would send fines, give city officials more power to issue citations to violators

by / Palo Alto Weekly

Uploaded: Thu, Feb 2, 2023, 9:30 am

Nearly two decades after Palo Alto adopted a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers in residential areas, both the appliance and the public opposition to them remain as loud as ever.

In 2022 alone, the city had received about 450 service requests pertaining to the noisy devices, according to a new report from the Department of Planning and Development Services, up from 242 in 2021 but roughly aligned with the number of requests in 2018 and 2019. And the City Council periodically hears from residents who bemoan the hazardous impacts of gas-powered leaf blowers on health and the environment, as well as the city's haphazard response.

Strikingly, between 75% and 90% of the requests in any given year come from the top 10 service requesters, according to the report, a figure that points to the city's chronic failures to address the problems, even if they are identified and reported.

Last year, more than 200 people signed a petition led by Helene Grossman, a leading advocate of strengthening enforcement of the city's ban on gas-powered leaf blowers, which has been on the books since 2000. In May, Grossman requested that the council expand public education and a trade-in program that would offer gardeners a gas-powered leaf blower with a rebate for an electric one. At a public meeting, she recited portions of emails she had received from several residents who were complaining about the seemingly ever-present fumes and noise. One was from a writer whose child has asthma and who had trouble breathing near leaf blowers.

"I get lots and lots of emails from people who are very upset about leaf blowers in the city," Grossman told the council.

Barry Katz, one of many local residents to advocate for improving enforcement of leaf blowers in recent years, told this news organization that the problem became more pronounced during the early days of the pandemic, when many people began to work from home.

"This just became an intolerable situation," Katz said.

To date, however, the city's enforcement efforts have been mostly futile. Part of that has to do the nature of the violation — by the time code enforcement comes around, the gardener and their leaf blower are usually gone. Another part, however, has to do with local law. After receiving a report of a leaf blower violation, the city sends a letter to the property owner and then follows up with a site visit a few weeks later in an attempt to verify the violation, according to the staff report. More often than not, the report notes, staff is unable to validate the violation and the case is closed.

On the off-chance that the violation is observed, the city sends a notice citing the violation and informing the property owners that they need to take corrective action. Validating either compliance or violations is difficult because it requires three consecutive site visits and enforcement officials can't be certain when the leaf blowing will next occur. In the highly unlikely event that a citation is issued, it amounts to $100 for the first violation, with escalations to $150 and $300 for the second and third, respectively. The new report notes that aside from three citations that had been issued within the past six weeks, staff is "not aware of any other gas-powered leaf blower citations being issued."

"The regulatory framework in the City's municipal code makes it difficult to observe and cite the gas-powered leaf blower operator — the code does not allow issuance of an immediate citation with the first observed violation," the report states.

Now, the council is hoping to change that. With momentum against gas-powered leaf blowers picking up across the state, the council is preparing to approve on Monday a series of changes that would add fuel to the city's enforcement efforts.

One change would abolish an existing policy that requires enforcement officers to issue a "notice of violation" to the leaf-blowing scofflaw and give them a chance to come into compliance before they get a citation. The new law would empower the enforcement officer to issue a citation immediately when they observe someone using a gas-powered leaf blower in a residential neighborhood.

Another change would raise the fines to $250 for the first violation and to $500 and $1,000 for second and third violations, respectively. This, according to staff, will bring the violation in alignment with misdeeds such as littering and smoking in restricted areas.

The revised law would also specify that it's the property owner, rather than the operator of the leaf blower, who is liable for the violation. The city will thus be able to hold property owners responsible for "knowingly permitting the use of gas-powered leaf blowers by an 'operator' on their residential property," according to the staff report.

"With this change, upon a code enforcement officer observed violation, a warning would be issued to the property owner that puts them on notice that they are permitting an operator to use a gas-powered leaf blower on their property. If an officer observes this a second time, the property owner could be cited," the report states.

Palo Alto, which adopted its ban in 2005, isn't the only city that has taken a stance against these noisy appliances. Menlo Park, which saw its original ban on the appliance overturned by voters in a 1998 referendum, is preparing to start once again enforcing its prohibition in July 2024. Los Altos banned them in 1991, becoming the first city in the area to do so.

The movement has also spread across the state thanks in part to Assembly Bill 1346, legislation by Assembly member Marc Berman, that directs the California Air Resources Board to adopt regulations for banning new "small off-road engines" (a category that includes gas-powered leaf blowers) by 2024. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law in October 2021.

In addition to setting new rules for landscapers, Palo Alto is switching its own leaf blowers from gas to electric. According to staff, the Community Services Department, which oversees parks and open spaces, already uses battery-powered backpack blowers most of the time, though it makes exceptions in areas where the equipment isn't strong enough to remove debris or plant material, according to staff. Public Works crews currently have a mix of gas-powered and electric leaf blowers, the report states, though it is poised to replace all handheld gas-powered leaf blowers this year.

Katz said the proposed moves are a step in the right direction, particularly the city's determination that it's the property owners, not the gardeners, who are liable for violations. Behind most of the efforts that he has participated in, there is a strong desire not to penalize the gardeners, who he said are in most cases working for someone else. And, as a practical matter, they are harder to penalize because they don't stay at the location for too long.

"Gardeners are gone in a few minutes — they mow, they blow and they drive off, trying to get to as many jobs as possible," Katz said. "Housing and apartment buildings aren't going anywhere. It's much easier and ethically reasonable to target the property owners."

He observed that the situation has quieted down somewhat since last summer, a welcome trend that may be related to the recent wave of citizen advocacy and the growing publicity around the issue. Most, though not all, of the gardeners he sees these days have switched to electric leaf blowers, he said.

New state regulations may have accelerated the trend. And it probably didn't hurt that the city restored last year a code enforcement officer position that was slashed at the onset of the pandemic. But whether this newfound era of quieter yards persists remains for Katz an open question.

"Palo Alto has a history of coming down on this and it gets better and backing off and it gets worse," Katz said. "It's gone up and down and up and and now it's up. We may be in a lull now, but it's probably not enough to say the problem is solved."

Comments

Eva_PA
Registered user
Ventura
on Feb 2, 2023 at 10:39 am
Eva_PA, Ventura
Registered user
on Feb 2, 2023 at 10:39 am

So good to hear that the City is switching to electric blowers by end of year. It's been frustrating to see city workers using gas blowers while fining homeowners. Even now to see the crackdown happening before their transition is complete seems off.

Also, what about commercial requirements? Will business landlords be fined too?

Does anyone know details about the offer for gardeners to trade-in their gas-powered blower to electric? There are great rechargeable units these days. Hopefully it is a rechargable model and not a corded model.


Sean
Registered user
Midtown
on Feb 2, 2023 at 10:42 am
Sean, Midtown
Registered user
on Feb 2, 2023 at 10:42 am

Suggestion: The threat of fines for homeowners won't solve the problem unless they are given a good alternative. I have spoken to my own 81-year-old mother about this. She depends on gardeners to help her maintain her garden, and they depend on leaf blowers to do their work cost effectively.

Instead of fines, which creates multiple losers (homeowners and gardeners) the city should offer education and a purchase program for approved electric leaf blowers. The city should buy the devices in bulk and provide them at cost to homeowners so their gardeners can use them instead of their own gas units. We all get a cleaner, quieter environment and everybody wins.


Rose
Registered user
Mayfield
on Feb 2, 2023 at 12:03 pm
Rose, Mayfield
Registered user
on Feb 2, 2023 at 12:03 pm

PLEASE include all of Palo Alto in the requirement to use electric blowers—not just residential! Mixed use districts and business districts suffer just as much from the awful noise and air pollution.


Puffin
Registered user
College Terrace
on Feb 2, 2023 at 12:08 pm
Puffin, College Terrace
Registered user
on Feb 2, 2023 at 12:08 pm

How about training the RPP personnel to observe and report violations. They drive around the neighborhoods looking for people who have parked for longer than 2 hours, so they must see a lot of gas blowers being used. They probably couldn't cite, but that would help.


sequoiadean
Registered user
Los Altos
on Feb 2, 2023 at 12:30 pm
sequoiadean, Los Altos
Registered user
on Feb 2, 2023 at 12:30 pm

That's great that Palo Alto is going to improve it's enforcement of it's gas leaf blower ban, and it's right that the property owners should be fined, not the gardeners. I'll bet that the minute a homeowner gets a fine, they'll have the gardener switch to electric immediately.

I've found the best way to get local gardeners to switch from gas to electric is to simply talk to your neighbors about how awful gas leaf blowers are and have them tell the gardeners to switch.

And remember, it's good for the soil to leave the leaves there, or at least not blow every spec of debris from your yard. A rake works wonders for yard cleanup.


PA mom
Registered user
Crescent Park
on Feb 2, 2023 at 1:05 pm
PA mom, Crescent Park
Registered user
on Feb 2, 2023 at 1:05 pm

Only reporting infractions observed by police has resulted in very few violators being reported, and is ineffective. Years ago when Palo Alto’s ban was first passed, the city cited violators based on witness reports. Living and walking in Palo Alto back then was peaceful and enjoyable!


D on R
Registered user
Duveneck/St. Francis
on Feb 2, 2023 at 3:54 pm
D on R, Duveneck/St. Francis
Registered user
on Feb 2, 2023 at 3:54 pm

Not only are the gas blowers noisy and bad for the soil, they are bad for the air. They create clouds of dust for tens of feet all around. Electric blowers would do the same. Rakes don't make dust clouds.


Paloaltojon
Registered user
Crescent Park
on Feb 2, 2023 at 5:05 pm
Paloaltojon, Crescent Park
Registered user
on Feb 2, 2023 at 5:05 pm

I add a request to include hedge shears to this initiative. Altho not as numerous nor as frequently used, they are especially loud and, I surmise, even more polluting.


Deborah
Registered user
Evergreen Park
on Feb 2, 2023 at 7:56 pm
Deborah, Evergreen Park
Registered user
on Feb 2, 2023 at 7:56 pm

Oh thank heavens!


Bystander
Registered user
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Feb 2, 2023 at 9:35 pm
Bystander, Another Palo Alto neighborhood
Registered user
on Feb 2, 2023 at 9:35 pm

What I expect to happen is that most of the gardeners will stop working and we have untidy looking yards as elderly and busy homeowners won't be able to afford the money the gardeners will charge for the extra time involved or be able to go and do it themselves.

Any teens looking to earn money just might get the opportunity to use a rake and earn some spending cash from neighbors as it used to be done in the past.


Nayeli
Registered user
Midtown
on Feb 3, 2023 at 10:00 am
Nayeli, Midtown
Registered user
on Feb 3, 2023 at 10:00 am

Palo Alto has been saying this for more than a decade. In fact, since they first began a campaign to limit leaf blowers, there have been MORE used.


Annette
Registered user
College Terrace
on Feb 7, 2023 at 10:04 am
Annette, College Terrace
Registered user
on Feb 7, 2023 at 10:04 am

Time to start selling Love Leaves tee shirts, using rakes for the letter "L".


Julie Lythcott-Haims
Registered user
Green Acres
on Feb 7, 2023 at 10:49 am
Julie Lythcott-Haims, Green Acres
Registered user
on Feb 7, 2023 at 10:49 am

@Annette I love your creativity. I'd wear that t-shirt!


mjh
Registered user
College Terrace
on Feb 7, 2023 at 2:14 pm
mjh, College Terrace
Registered user
on Feb 7, 2023 at 2:14 pm

During a recent council meeting, new council member Julie Lythcott-Haimes argued that council comments should be briefer and more concise since late meetings had an adverse impact on her personal life. Council member Greg Tanaka backed her up also complaining meetings took too long. However, ironically, and as we have come to expect, last night Tanaka once again jumped in toward the end of the discussion with what seem to be pre-prepared remarks that repetitively belabor points he wants to make ad nauseam while ignoring previous council debate. Including as usual questions to staff they had already been asked and answered, or silly questions to which he must know perfectly well staff cannot answer. While Tenaka usually doesn't participate in debate, I'm not sure he knows the meaning of brief and concise.


Jerry
Registered user
Duveneck/St. Francis
on Feb 7, 2023 at 2:48 pm
Jerry, Duveneck/St. Francis
Registered user
on Feb 7, 2023 at 2:48 pm

Cost is a huge factor here. I bought a 40V Ryobi battery-powered leaf blower a year or so ago. It came with a single battery pack. I tested it in my backyard. It was very effective but the battery lasted about 1 hour with continuous usage. So I bought a second battery pack.

The cost of the unit was about $180. The cost of each battery pack is about $80. If your average gardener does 5 houses a day, that's a $580 expenditure. That's more than I pay my gardener per month. Plus the gardener would have to remember to charge all battery packs everyday.

A far better idea than asking your gardener to switch is for the homeowner to purchase the blower/spare battery pack and let your gardener use it when they are at your property. That way your gardener wouldn't have to go bankrupt, as @Online suggests.


Green Gables
Registered user
Duveneck/St. Francis
on Feb 7, 2023 at 2:57 pm
Green Gables, Duveneck/St. Francis
Registered user
on Feb 7, 2023 at 2:57 pm

Does the Council think that the Palo Alto Police force have any more time to issue tickets than they did several years ago when this was voted on?


Online Name
Registered user
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on Feb 7, 2023 at 3:19 pm
Online Name, Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
Registered user
on Feb 7, 2023 at 3:19 pm

@Mjh, speaking of verbosity and long-winded irrelevant spiels by CC members, I and others were surprised and disappointed to learn that the City Council has nixed the proposal to have an Ask the City Manager session because it would take "too much of CC members' valuable time.


MyFeelz
Registered user
another community
on Feb 7, 2023 at 6:46 pm
MyFeelz, another community
Registered user
on Feb 7, 2023 at 6:46 pm

@Sean, I think your proposal to give electric blowers to SFH owners is unfair to MFD owners. Also, it leads to liability issues if a gardener gets injured by a device that the owner asked them to use. Was the injury due to the owner's neglect of the device? I think what you're saying does have some merit though and could be directed to give gardeners a deep discount on non-gas powered blowers.

Non-gas powered blowers only give one benefit, and that is zero emissions. They still make lots of noise, they still blow dust into the air, and they are still a nuisance. I think PA only has as much interest in this issue as ... a landlord registry, after promising to create one over 20 years ago.

You have to look at the bigger picture. After 20 years, if a city refuses to enforce its own ordinances, it just isn't going to happen. But it makes for good campaign fodder. As for CARB being able to enforce a statewide ban ... they are the same agency that allows 40 year old cars to belch smoke and make you gasp for air. They have a website where you can report such a vehicle. You report it, and the report disappears into the ether, much like an elusive gas-blowing gardener.


mjh
Registered user
College Terrace
on Feb 7, 2023 at 8:26 pm
mjh, College Terrace
Registered user
on Feb 7, 2023 at 8:26 pm

@Greengables. If I understood correctly, the city has already hired a half-time code enforcement officer dedicated to leaf blower violations, who reported to and responded to council member questions last night about the inadequate process the city has had for pursuing gas leaf blowing violations and how this might be improved upon.

Despite some of the assumptions mentioned above, Council members raised various questions as to how and who should receive notifications of violations as well as the nuances of who should be responsible for paying the fine. Requesting staff to further investigate the ramifications of who should be held accountable and return to them for further consideration of what turns out to be a somewhat thorny issue.


Eeyore
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on Feb 8, 2023 at 10:03 am
Eeyore, Adobe-Meadow
Registered user
on Feb 8, 2023 at 10:03 am

@MyFeelz

I have subscribed to the Ego brand of yard care equipment. I can categorically state that their leaf blower is *much* quieter than the gasoline powered variety and makes no sound when not blowing (no idling of a gas powered engine).

There needs to be a mass mailing to every Palo Alto address outlining the new requirements. Pretty sure all my neighbors will be on board.


Jim Hols.....
Registered user
Community Center
on Feb 8, 2023 at 4:11 pm
Jim Hols....., Community Center
Registered user
on Feb 8, 2023 at 4:11 pm

Why Can't anyone with a phone take a pic of gas blower violation in progress. The pic would visibly show the violation and property. It also contains digital of time of day and location. Upload the pic to PA app and title holder of property gets a citation. This is similat to red light cameras. No need for an officer.


Resident 1-Adobe Meadows
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on Feb 9, 2023 at 10:36 am
Resident 1-Adobe Meadows, Adobe-Meadow
Registered user
on Feb 9, 2023 at 10:36 am

One of the main points for blowing leaves is to clear the street drains of clogging up. We have at the end of the street openings into the below street drains that clears water to the bay during rain. During the recent big rains reports of cities which could not clear the streets of water so had residential flooding. Residential flooding is the end result of clogged up drains which cannot process the water that is coming in. Thank you to the city street cleaners who are trying to clear the debrie and drains under the street.

You can get a blower at Ace hardware that is a battery pack - you do have to keep recharging but you can clear the area for the street cleaner to help clear the area for safe drainage. Maintenenace of your property in a city that has a 100 year flood insurance requirement in specified areas is essential.

Note that we pay for the street cleaner because it is an essential service. The City of EPA has signs on all of it's streets. The City of PA is only partially covered for signage. That is a concession to the overflow parking that occurs on the streets which interfere with good maintenance. Time to fix the signage problem. Residential streets are paying the city here. The commercial entiies need to cover their their parking issues on their own property and on their own dime.


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