Marblehead Gas-Powered Leaf Blower Ban Back Up For Debate

MARBLEHEAD, MA — For the past seven years, Marblehead residents have individually tried their hands at convincing town meeting members to curtail or eliminate what they believe to be both the noise and pollution scourge of gas-powered leaf blowers.

This year, they have banded together as part of the Quiet Clean Marblehead campaign they hope will finally make their push at a compromise a success.

"We joined forces this year instead of being individuals," Rita Sullivan March, a lifelong Marblehead resident and environmental health activist, told Patch. "It feels good having support. There is strength in numbers."

Ordinance proponents argue that while noise is a quality-of-life problem, the effects of the gas-powered equipment pose an actual health danger to residents with those using the equipment suffering increased rates of hearing loss and hypertension, and with the air pollution that contributes to breathing disorders.

"We are persisting," Myra Sussman, a retired Boston school teacher, told Patch. "We're losing our minds. We're so angered every time by the noise because when they start up it's constant. It's daily. It's everywhere. There's no escaping it.

"It's more painful for those who have hearing loss. The research is out there. It's undeniable."

Their efforts in recent years have met opposition from commercial landscapers who argue it would be unnecessary and too costly to purchase electric- or battery-powered equipment to keep the well-maintained lawns of Marblehead looking pristine, while good, old-fashioned raking is too time-consuming and not cost-effective.

"They have that mentality that I don't want to have one scrap of leaf in my area," Sussman said of the landscapers and some of those who employ them. "They have the mentality of: 'Blow the heck out of it.'"

Article 47 on the warrant for this spring's May 3 town meeting would prohibit the use of commercially operated gas-powered leaf blowers from Memorial Day to Labor Day. This year's version of the ordinance would allow individuals to use their own gas-powered leaf blowers and would allow commercial landscapers to use them from the day after Labor Day through the day before Memorial Day to facilitate fall and spring cleanup.

The law would take effect on Memorial Day 2021, would allow the Board of Selectmen to overrule it based on an emergency (likely a storm of some sort involving extensive cleanup) and would provide the Board of Selectmen with authority to determine enforcement.

While some of the provisions fall well short of some restrictions enacted in Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge, Lincoln and Newton, Quiet Clean Marblehead said the compromises are in an effort to get something passed after years of near misses.

"We don't want it at all," Sussman said. "It's failed so many times that we had to do (the compromises) to get it passed. Some of the communities told us in order to get anything passed you have to do it in incremental steps. It's very difficult to get anything banned."

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The group believes that beyond the collaborative effort they may have a few things going for them this year. Battery-powered equipment has become more effective and lower cost in recent years, making it a more viable alternative to gas equipment, and there have been so many more people home during the coronavirus health crisis who have experience the lawncare noise firsthand.

"Even though some of us worked and schooled at home before the pandemic it's probably been 90 percent now," March said. "That makes it a little more apparent because living at home, working at home and schooling at home makes it more obvious how loud the world outside is."

Sussman said she has been told by many residents they support her efforts in principle, but getting someone to agree there is a problem and getting them to attend two nights of a town meeting and can be another matter.

"As individuals, we haven't gotten the word out enough in the past," she said. "It's really hard. People say they are frustrated too and, 'yeah, yeah, I hate it,' but to get people to actually show up and vote is difficult.

"I know sometimes you have to make noise to get things done. It needs to be front and center. If it's controversial, that's OK because people need to be talking about it."

For more information about Clean Quiet Marblehead’s efforts, go to their Facebook page.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)