A key county advisory panel likes the proposal to ban gas-powered leaf blowers countywide, but doesn’t want to get too far into the weeds on specifics right now.
Members of the Arlington Park and Recreation Commission on Oct. 28 agreed to send a letter to County Board members, expressing support for the concept of outlawing gas blowers.
“It seems to me everybody [on the commission] is in favor of this type of proposal,” commission chair Jill Barker said.
But after some discussion, members of the body backed away from addressing related issues, such as how long a phase-in period should be before a prohibition goes into effect, or how the county plans to monitor regulations it imposes.
“I don’t know if it makes sense for us to propose a certain increment of time [to phase in the proposal] if we don’t have an idea how they’re actually going to enforce it,” commission member Daniel Garay said.
One commission member floated an 18-month period before the prohibition went into effect. That’s the same amount of time provided by the Alexandria City Council when it enacted a ban earlier this year.
In the end, commission members opted to wait on suggesting a time frame until the County Board made a decision on prohibiting the gas blowers. If that occurs, there will be a new round of community engagement where issues like timing and enforcement will be taken up.
Currently, the county’s noise ordinance bans the use of all motorized leaf-blowing devices in residential communities weekdays from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. and weekends and holidays from 9 p.m. to 10 a.m. County officials believe they have the authority to use amendments to the noise ordinance to outlaw certain types of leaf blowers entirely.
To cover their bases, county officials have sought General Assembly authority specifically focused on gas-powered blowers.
Participating at the Oct. 28 meeting was Rich Dooley of the county’s climate-policy office. He has been one of those leading outreach to businesses that use, or hire people to use, leaf-blowing equipment.
Dooley said some are “concerned about the logistics” and expense of purchasing new equipment.
“In their minds it was becoming, I wouldn’t say insurmountable, but challenging,” he said.
Commission members raised questions to Dooley about whether a prohibition could be imposed only at certain times of the day or year, when emissions would be most detrimental to the environment.
Questions also were asked about whether the county government could provide incentives, financial or otherwise, to ease the transition burden on both residents and businesses.
Asked how expensive a switch might be to individuals and businesses, Dooley said he didn’t want to pinpoint a dollar amount.
“It all depends on how powerful and high-end you want your equipment,” he said.
County officials hosted an online form to garner feedback on proposals, which was open through Oct. 29. More than 3,500 comments were received, according to county staff.
The Park and Recreation Commission isn’t the first advisory body to weigh in on the topic. In June, members of the county’s Climate Change, Energy and Environment Commission wrote to County Board members, asking the county to “move quickly” in enacting a ban on gas blowers.
The commission’s letter said an 18-month phase-in period would be reasonable.
In addition to Arlington, city leaders in Falls Church recently discussed the issue. City Council members have agreed to hold the matter over until January, when any new Council members would be seated.
Photo via Callum Hill/Unsplash
