Lower Merion offers training, equipment demo to promote shift to electric leaf blowers
Although some residents continue to oppose Lower Merion’s new restrictions on gas-powered leaf blowers, the township is moving ahead with its plans to ease the transition to electric equipment.
On March 5 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Lower Merion Township will host an election landscaping training and equipment demonstration at the Ludington Library in Bryn Mawr. The free event is open to landscaping professionals and caretakers of commercial, institutional and municipal properties, and it aims to offer “guidance on how to transition to electric equipment to comply with Lower Merion Township’s gas-powered leaf blower ordinance.”
Participants can expect expert-led classroom instruction focusing on the logistics, economics and benefits of transitioning to electric equipment, followed by a hands-on demonstration of electric equipment from manufacturers such as STIHL, Kress, Milwaukee, Greenworks and EGO.
Only professional landscapers may attend the classroom training from 8:30 to 11 a.m., but members of the general public are welcome at the equipment demonstration from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Participants also will have a chance to win raffle prizes, including handheld blower sets.
Restrictions will be phased in
The township enacted its new leaf-blower ordinance on Nov. 19, 2025, with proponents arguing that gas-powered blowers contribute to both air and sound pollution.
The ordinance applies to all residents, commercial landscapers, contractors and property maintenance personnel on all properties in Lower Merion. However, gas-powered leaf blowers are not banned immediately; this year they will only be disallowed between June 1 and Oct. 1. The gas-powered blower ban will widen in 2027, becoming effective from Jan. 1 to April 1 and then June 1 to Oct. 1. And by 2028, the equipment will be prohibited all year long.
The township is also prohibiting the use of gas-powered generators to run corded electric leaf blowers or charge electric leaf blower batteries.
Residents take issue with ordinance
During a Jan. 21 township board of commissioners meeting, two residents took the lectern to voice their opposition to the ordinance.
Kay Gately, speaking on behalf of Villanova’s Wrenfield community, which encompasses 60 acres of natural land, said the new restrictions are of “grave concern.”
“Reasons for our objection are economic, technological and environmental in scope,” she said. Not only will her community face a “significant monetary burden” in having to buy new equipment, but Wrenfield’s landscaper will also have higher labor costs since electric blowers are less efficient at moving leaf debris. Further, the mining of materials required to produce batteries for electric blowers, as well as issues with battery disposal, have a negative environmental impact, Gately argued.
Gladwyne resident Terry O’Leary, who said he has taken care of his family’s property for 63 years, made similar points. “This is going to create a lot more work for me,” he said, noting electric blowers have limited capacity relative to gas-powered ones. Also, even “if the township converts all their equipment to the lithium-ion [battery] technology in three years,” that technology may become obsolete and force the township to invest in new equipment again, he said.
Commissioner V. Scott Zelov, who voted against the ordinance, responded that “it’s entirely reasonable” that people are just now learning about the gas-powered leaf blower restrictions and taking their complaints to the board. And noting O’Leary’s point about changing technology, Zelov said it was a “wise recommendation” for township staff to suggest the board revisit the new restrictions in two years.
But board President Todd Sinai pointed out that the ordinance “is something that this board debated at length” before voting in favor of it. “I don’t think we need to continue to rehash those arguments” before the two-year mark, Sinani said.
