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Gasoline-powered leaf blowers are in the cross hairs in Portola Valley. They’re the little engines that can, in one hour, generate greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to a car trip from Los Angeles to Denver; that produce noise equivalent to a car horn heard from 3 feet away; that distribute toxic compounds such as formaldehyde and hydrocarbons; and that propel dust particles at speeds comparable to hurricane-force winds.

These and other assertions are included in a flyer from the town, published in English and Spanish, to promote electricity-powered leaf blowers. Electric blowers are quieter and don’t push dust around at the speeds of their gas-powered cousins, the flyer says.

Town Hall is asking residents to think about incentives that could persuade gardeners to replace their gasoline-powered blowers with electric models.

“We want to hear from you on what you think would be the most successful way to encourage such a transition,” the flyer says. “Talk to your gardeners and landscape professionals about best practices, meaningful incentives, and the use of an electric leaf blower.”

Long a hot topic

The question of regulating leaf blowers, including banning commercial use of them on weekends, has been a hot topic in town for decades, with arguments made in support of allowing them and banning them.

Commercial use of leaf blowers is limited on Saturdays and not allowed on Sundays, and the town’s noise ordinance can be brought to bear for exceptionally loud machines, but that is the extent of regulations.

The idea of replacing gasoline-powered leaf blowers with electric blowers has not been controversial, but this current initiative is notable in that it is actively seeking ways to move that idea along.

Coming up with workable incentives for switching to electric blowers was one of several suggestions made in September 2017 when the Town Council discussed ways to reduce and eventually eliminate the presence of gasoline-powered blowers from the streets and yards of Portola Valley.

At that time, resident Danna Breen, a landscape architect, noted the effect that leaf blowers have on irrigation by hardening the soil surface.

People have also become accustomed to leaf blowers as background noise, she said. “I think it’s insane and I think it really needs to stop and I’m surprised at us not being at the forefront of this thing,” she said. “Leaves on the ground are OK. Where did we get into this anal-retentive thing?”

Craig Taylor, a Planning Commission member, sounded a note of concern for gardeners at that meeting. “Taking all their tools away from them is kind of crazy, so finding some reasonable (solution) I think is where we should go,” he said.

Suggestions included phasing in changes in leaf-blower policy over a period of years, and establishing a certification program by which the town could inspect leaf blowers and issue decals for those that meet the town’s standards.

Town Hall asks that residents send their ideas and comments to leafblowers@portolavalley.net.

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5 Comments

  2. Here is what you will get. Gardeners, whose livelihood relies on doing their job fast, will be forced to switch to electric blowers and to charge the batteries they will put a gas generator in the back of their trucks. They will fire up the generator and charge the battery between houses and then use that to blow the leaves. Problem solved… or maybe not…

  3. My compliments to Portola Valley for coming up with a reasonable proposal to rid the town of that county-wide scourge. The use of electric blowers, or better yet no leaf blowers at all, should be the way to go throughout the county (and elsewhere for that matter). Gardeners should be paid more for using the time-consuming but far healthier rake instead.

  5. Thank heavens we have the ALPR’s to help us identify those dastardly gardeners who ride into town with such evil devices!

    The readers have already worked so well, cutting violent crime in PV in half!

    Dual purpose ALPR’s – now saving on noise, too!

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