Gas-powered leaf blowers to be phased out of Lower Merion via new ban ordinance
Well, it’s official. Gas-powered leaf blowers will soon be outlawed in Lower Merion Township. During a Nov. 19 Board of Commissioners meeting, the ordinance was adopted to phase out the use of these yard tools.
Noted as Ordinance 4322, the new regulations are technically an amendment to the Township’s Chapter 92: Property Maintenance section. Overall, the new ordinance will seasonally ban gas-powered blowers in 2026, 2027, and 2028, with a full ban to come into effect Jan. 1, 2029.
The ordinance restricts both persons and entities, meaning neither local residents nor commercial landscapers, contractors, or property maintenance personnel will be permitted to use gas-powered leaf blowers within the Township. The law is the first of its kind on the books in any Pennsylvania municipality.
In 2026, the use of gas-powered leaf blowers will not be permitted from June 1 to Oct. 1. In 2027, the ban expands to refuse the allowance of them from Jan. 1 to April in addition to June 1 to Oct. 1. In 2028, gas-powered leaf blowers cannot be used from Jan. 1 to Oct. 1, leaving only the peak fall months for the lawncare tool’s use in Lower Merion.
According to the Board of Commissioners ruling, by Jan. 1, 2029, and all years after, the use of gas-powered leaf blowers will be prohibited year-round. At no time will the electric-powered units be banned. They are open for use at all times.
Gas-powered generators are also included in the ordinance. No person nor entity may utilize a gas-powered generator to run corded electric leaf blowers, nor to charge electric leaf-blower batteries. Gas-powered vacuums that pull debris into trucks are to continue to be permitted.
Board President Todd M. Sinai said that the ordinance is about leaf blowers and not leaf vacuums. The walk-behind or tow-behind leaf blowers, however did bring about controversy, as Sinai said they were four-cycle machines, but still noisy.
“They are like 93 decibels,” said Sinai. “A Stihl backpack battery-powered leaf blower is like 64 decibels, which is within our noise allowance.”
Sinai said other communities with similar bans have limited such use to large properties or bans along direct property lines. Amendments were suggested and approved ahead of the overall vote.
Daniel S. Bernheim, commissioner of Ward 1, which includes Gladwyne, Merion Park, and Penn Valley areas, said that in all of his time with the township, this topic garnered the most feedback from the community.
“The advocates on both sides of the issue have been extremely strong and very well-phrased as to their viewpoints, and as I said earlier, it is greatly appreciated,” said Bernheim. “Notwithstanding that people come out with different rationales or decisions on it, there is that common denominator that everybody expressed. Both those who are advocates of this ordinance and those who are opponents of it, and that’s recognition that there’s an issue regarding the noise regarding gas-powered leaf blowers, and there’s an issue of health given the pollutants about it.”
Bernheim said these issues don’t match with the township’s stated rationale for the ordinance. Procedurally, he said that prior to the suggestion of the ordinance, the township asked a sustainability manager to research the issue. That manager then sent to the commissioners a memo regarding her findings.
“The memo indicated that there were, among other things, reviews of environmental and health literature, interviews with commercial landscapers, a review of enforcement feasibility, an assessment of township needs testing of electric leaf blowers by our Parks and Recreation crews, and a review of other municipality restrictions,” said Bernheim. “We were informed that there already were efforts to integrate electronic equipment, but in many instances, such as maintaining parks, walkways, sidewalks, ballfields … the gas-powered equipment was still needed.”
Echoing the statements by some public commenters, Bernheim said that many landscapers felt today’s technology in electric leaf blowers did not match the power of gas. Additionally, a price tag of nearly $20,000 “per crew” for new equipment and batteries concerned many.
A four-and-a-half hour board meeting, filled with public comment and various commissioners’ input on the ordinance late in the evening met with amendments, including an idea to revert back to an earlier version of the ordinance which created a period of research and observation, prior to a full ban.
“I support this [reverting] amendment, and in fact it is going back to the initial proposal,” said V. Scott Zelov, commissioner for Ward 10, encompassing Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Gladwyne. Then, citing the sustainability manager’s 12-page report to the board, he said having time to evaluate the differences would help, ahead of jumping into a ban from day one.
“She wrote that a year-round restriction that would prohibit the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in spring and fall is not recommended,” said Zelov. “She wrote that it would create significant operational challenges, service delays, and increased cost. She wrote that it would be less accepted and less followed, decreasing the overall effectiveness. She wrote that it might cause quality reductions that could result in resident complaints and unsafe conditions.”
Zelov said that the issue of enforcement had also not been thoroughly discussed by the board. In addition to the two years spent by the manager to create the report, Zelov also said the recommendations noted that, due to lower quality outputs, the use of electrically powered equipment could result in additional time resulting in both the use of more power and residents’ complaints about noise, rendering the ordinance ineffective.
A vote on the amendment to table the discussion was not passed. Only three commissioners wanted to do so.
The ordinance went on for a full vote. A roll-call style vote on the ordinance resulted in ten yes votes, while four voted no. The ordinance passed, and is now in effect.
