Title
Public Hearing to Consider Introduction of Ordinance Amending Alameda Municipal Code Chapter XXIV Public Health to Add Section 24-14 Prohibition on Gasoline-Powered Leaf Blowers. (Planning and Building 20962710)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Since leaf blowers became commercially available in the 1970s, many communities in California have debated their advantages and disadvantages. Leaf blowers are useful and convenient for maintenance needs but generate adverse effects such as air pollution and noise impacts. Today, more than 20 cities in California have adopted outright bans on gasoline-powered leaf blowers and over 80 cities have adopted some form of regulation over these machines. The city of Alameda (City) is in a state of climate emergency, and both the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan and the Planning Board recommend adoption of an Ordinance to prohibit the use of gasoline-powered leaf blowers citywide, effective January 1, 2023. The deferred effective date provides landscape professionals, who may be under contract, to phase out the use of the gasoline-powered leaf blowers. The reference to "gasoline-powered" includes all gasoline, diesel, and other combustion engine-powered leaf blowers.
BACKGROUND
Leaf blowers are commonly used in landscape maintenance for their effectiveness in moving loose debris, but despite their usefulness, the blowers are loud and generate air pollution. When leaf blowers first became widely available in the 1970s, the devices were motorized units that operated on gasoline and diesel fuel. A 2000 report prepared by the California Air Resources Board found that gasoline-powered leaf blowers have potential significant adverse impacts upon the general health, safety and welfare of residents. Leaf blowers also release carbon emissions into the air each year. Over the years, more than 20 cities in the state of California have banned gasoline leaf blowers, including th...
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