Dear Millburn Township Residents and Leadership,

We hope this petition reaches you well during this challenging time. 

As mentioned below in the letter we shared with neighbors (as well as Millburn Facebook and Nextdoor sites), raising this issue has not been easy for us, in general, let alone amidst the Covid pandemic. For those that find this initiative to be insensitive given the situation, we appreciate and empathize with your point of view and wish you and your family safety and health during this time.

This petition proposes a ban of the use or sale of any leaf blower equipped with a two-stroke or four-stroke engine that uses either gasoline, or a gasoline and oil blend as fuel, enforced by fines of $1000 per use.

If you support the initiative, please SIGN, and thank you!

Please do not feel the need to read through the entire petition but as we have educated ourselves on the issue we wanted to provide sufficient resources about what we have learned.

For an executive summary we suggest: The Atlantic and QC Fact Sheet

Respectfully, for many of us at home - just for now or regularly - attempting to educate and look after our children, take calls and focus on work, quietly enjoy our home, and / or generally trying to find a semblance of peace and normalcy, gas powered leaf blowers are invasive, painfully loud, toxic, and inefficient machines that are overdue banning in line with numerous counties, cities, and states across the US. (list linked here).

It is unacceptable that Millburn Township residents are not protected but rather subjected to air pollution and extreme and debilitating noise from gas powered leaf blowers. There are environment and neighborhood friendly alternatives such as mulching, raking, and noise restricted quiet machines, but we would highly encourage folks to consider quiet, environment conscious methods.

 

The letter we wrote to our neighbors:

LETTER BEGIN

My wife, daughter, and I wanted to write as we are excited to recently move to this beautiful community. We have enjoyed meeting a few of you already and look forward to meeting many more; you may have seen us walking our stroller around the neighborhood :).

We also wanted to humbly ask for your neighborly consideration. The serene and quiet setting has so much appeal and we moved from the Upper West Side after four years in London hoping to escape the noise and hustle and bustle of city life with our newborn daughter.

You can count on us to upkeep our home and yard to a high standard and do our best to be conscious, thoughtful neighbors. As we are relatively new to the community, please accept our ignorance, but we have been surprised by the loud gas-powered leaf blowers frequently used in the area.

From the few conversations we have had with neighbors on this topic, it seems we are not the only ones bothered by the gas-powered leaf blowers’ use. Personally, we have experienced up to 4 and 5 blowers all at once, which produces an almost deafening and stressful noise often for multiple hours at a time; the opposite of the quiet calm retreat we enjoy in and around South Mountain Reservation and nearby areas. My wife and I also work from home frequently and when the leaf blowers are going it makes calls and work generally impossible.

Beyond our personal concerns, we have educated ourselves on the topic and understand a great deal of research has gone into the problem. Much of it points to health and environmental concerns, a few of those noted below. As a result, a number of towns, cities, and states have legislated bans and many others are under review.

It was difficult for us to write this letter, while we understand there is much support, we also expect it may frustrate or upset others. We are kindly asking if you would consider an alternative to the loud gas-powered leaf blowers (suggestions offered page 2) and preserve the peacefulness of this beautiful setting we all come home.

We are friendly people and would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Thank you for your consideration and feel free to reach out to us.

We wish you the very best during this challenging time.

LETTER END

 

Current Millburn Township Code:

In Millburn Township, leafblowers are currently regulated as "construction" activity and avoid stiff regulation that is already in place for blowers under "Prohibited Noises" in section 3-7.2 of Town Code.

Section 3-7.2 - Enumeration of Prohibited Noises

Blowers. The operation of any noise-creating blower or power fan or any internal combustion engine, the operation of which causes noise due to the explosion of operating gases or fluids, unless the noise from such blower or fan is muffled and such engine is equipped with a muffler device sufficient to deaden such noise.

 

Neighboring NY, NJ Community Legislation:
• Maplewood bans gas-powered leaf blowers from mid-May to October
• Montclair has a seasonal ban
• Princeton has a noise and time of day ban as well as excellent resources on this topic
• Many Westchester, NY county towns

 

US Legislation, Research, Orgs, and Relevant Articles - Effects of Noise and Environmental Impact

Last month, the State of Illinois proposed banning the use of gas-powered leaf blowers citing: gas powered leaf blowers generate noise at a decibel level that can cause hearing loss in a short amount of time, in addition to high stress; can send dust and other particles into the air for considerable distances including animal feces, trace amounts of heavy metals such as lead, and allergens such as pollen and mold; concerns that they emit exceedingly high rates of pollutants, including carbon monoxide; pollutants that the two/four stroke engines emit can contribute to smog and acid rain

proposing: ban the use or sale of any leaf blower equipped with a two-stroke or four-stroke engine that uses either gasoline, or a gasoline and oil blend as fuel enforced by fines of $500 per use

The State of California is pursuing a state-wide phase out of all gas-powered lawn equipment supported by years of CA government study below. Many cities throughout California already have bans in place.

California Air Resources Board (CARB) - a CA.gov organization - data and leading research shows the small gasoline engines found in lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and other power equipment pollute at a higher rate than other equipment and vehicles.

Edmunds: ​Car vs Truck vs Leafblower An authoritative, independent laboratory study showed that using a two-stoke gas-powered leaf blower for 30 minutes produces pollutants equal to those generated by driving a Ford F-150 truck 3,900 miles, or as far as from Texas to Alaska!

NPR - California Weighs Tougher Emission Rules" Those gas-powered leaf blowers, hedge trimmers and mowers you hear in your neighborhood aren't just annoying — they make a lot of pollution, too.

In California, they're about to pass cars as the worst air polluters, spewing out formaldehyde, benzene and particulate matter. According to Michael Benjamin at the California Air Resources Board, in just three years' time, the biggest single ozone polluter in the state is going to be all this gardening equipment."

According to Atlantic, Get off my Lawn, "Having facts also matters—yes, even in today’s America. At the beginning of the process, it felt as if 99 percent of the press coverage and online commentary was in the sneering “First World problem!” vein. That has changed. The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Monthly, and other publications have called attention to the leaf-blower problem, often arguing that gas-powered blowers should be banned. Reflexive sneering is down to about 5 percent among people who have made time to hear the facts. Noise, they have come to understand, is the secondhand smoke of this era." 

Quiet Communities Research (1) has identified a major difference in the noise gas powered leaf blowers produce:

Their analysis showed that gas-powered blowers produce far more “sound energy” in the low-frequency range. This may seem benign—who doesn’t like a nice basso profundo?—but it has a surprising consequence. High-frequency sound—a mosquito’s buzz, a dental drill—gets your attention, but it does not travel. It falls off rapidly with distance and struggles to penetrate barriers. If you’re in the next room, you may not hear it at all. By contrast, low-frequency noise has great penetrating power: It goes through walls, cement barriers, and many kinds of hearing-protection devices. The acoustic study found that in a densely settled neighborhood, a gas-powered blower rated at, say, 75 decibels of noisiness can affect up to 15 times as many households as a battery-powered blower with the same 75-decibel rating.

Quiet Communities (2) Noise from popular models of commercial gas leaf blowers exceeds 100 decibels at point of operation [9-10] and carries over long distances, affecting entire neighborhoods [11]. These levels are orders of magnitude higher than safe standards for workers and the public [12] with health effects ranging from hearing loss to heart disease and psychological and cognitive disturbances [12-15]. Environmental noise also interrupts animal communications and reduces biodiversity [16].

Washington DC Full Transcript of Testimony where they were successful in banning gas powered machines in 2018.

According to Quartz, More and More Brave Towns “the loudest models may have noise levels of up to 112 decibels—louder than a plane taking off, a freight train, or a live rock concert. Living in a noisy environment stresses the body, causing mental and physical health problems. (It’s also a nuisance for people trying to work, put a baby to sleep, or stave off a migraine.)”

Quiet Princeton: Excellent resources on history, evolution, technology and articles about gas powered leafblowers

In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) updated their Environmental Noise Guidelines instructing countries to reduce noise exposure: Reduce exposure to noise, while conserving quiet areas, Promote interventions to reduce exposure to noise and improve health, Coordinate approaches to control noise sources and other environmental health risks., Inform and involve communities potentially affected by a change in noise exposure.

Noise Pollution: A Modern Plague Lisa Goines, RN and Louis Hagler, MD

Wall Street Journal That Ear Splitting Leafblower, It also Emits More Pollution than a Car​

New York Times On Banning Leafblowers​

Eliminating Leafblowers: the Myths of Common Objections

“A ban on leaf blowers puts hard working landscapers out of work.”
There is no evidence, or even anecdotal reports, of any landscapers closing or landscape workers losing their jobs in any of the 20+ California cities that have banned gas leaf blowers. What a ban actually does is protect the respiratory health and hearing of landscape workers. Sonoma CALM, and leaf blower committees in Sacramento, Burlingame, and elsewhere have conducted interviews with public works employees and landscapers in many of these towns, and found no evidence of any hardship. 

“The cost of landscaping services will become prohibitive without leaf blowers.”
In the 20+ California cities that have banned gas leaf blowers, there have been no reports of increased costs. The cost of an electric blower is soon offset by the savings from not having to buy gas and oil, and not having to clean the blower. Leaving more leaves as mulch and compost also reduces costs for fertilizers and soil amendments.

“Industrial noise is part of modern life. Get used to it!”
It’s true that our world gets noisier and noisier, and that’s another reason to cut back on excessive noise pollution wherever we can! The harmful effects of excessive noise have been well documented in the scientific literature.

Love 'em and Leave 'em Mulching Program in Westchester County

Since the 2012 introduction and gradual adoption of Love 'Em and Leave 'Em yard care practices, a greater awareness of the environmental impacts of landscape practices has developing among residents of our towns and villages - especially a growing desire to locally address impacts of climate change on flora and fauna.

- A 'climate smart' approach to lawn care, for example, supports and encourages using the full range of leaf management techniques as outlined within this site:
- Rake whole leaves into wooded margins of yard (allowing important insects and small creatures a warm spot to overwinter).
- Rake some leaves and branches into a scrub pile (providing winter cover for birds and small animals).
- Mulch mow remaining leaves on the lawn (leaving in place for "free" fertilization).
- Mulch mow leaves on hardscape, then use as mulch on landscape beds.

 

Conclusion

If you've made it this far we are humbled and impressed!  We are hoping the community desires a healthier, safer, and quieter neighborhood as much as we do. 

Thank you for considering our petition and please SIGN!