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Capitola Limits Hours Leaf Blowers Can Be Used
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Capitola Limits Hours Leaf Blowers Can Be Used
By Elizabeth Giuffre
After a heated and emotional public hearing that filled Capitola’s council chambers and left one man teary-eyed on Thursday, Sept. 28, the Capitola City Council opted to change the hours in which leaf blowers could be used within city limits. Some in the audience had hoped the council would ban leaf blowers.
By the end of October or early November, leaf blowers in residential areas and private properties of Capitola will be allowed only from the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Public works sites, which include public parks and the Esplanade, will be exempt, as well as large commercial areas like the Capitola Mall parking lot. The existing ordinance allowed leaf blowers from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. The late hours were originally set to accommodate late night Capitola Mall clean-ups, according to Council Member Stephanie Harlan.
The meeting was split, filled with intense emotions from both sides of the issue. Harlan was not ready to make a decision on the proposed ban that night because she wanted the five-member council to continue to look at alternatives.
“I just don’t think that the city council should, at this point, ban something unless we have overwhelming support from the people of Capitola,” she said.
She and Vice Mayor Michael Termini wanted to have City staff review the topic, however Mayor Dennis Norton didn’t want to let it go. He urged the others on the council to change the hours of operation.
With audience members testifying, council members considered a variety of options from changing the hours that leaf blowers were permitted, to banning leaf blowers entirely to asking landscape contractors to exchange “bad” blowers for “good” ones.
This was not the first time that the subject had come to the council.
Pros and Cons
Those who wished to ban blowers talked about the annoying noise leaf blowers create, about the dust and allergens that plague people and cars, of air pollution and health issues. One woman went so philosophical as to say we as a society are “addicted to convenience,” saying leaf blowers don’t even work, and that they just blow things around. She called leaf blower users “insane” and “in a trance.”
Council Member Kirby Nicol was in favor of a full ban, but backed down to accept the regulation option as long as the ordinance was cleaned up and clarified.
“I kind of have a feeling that you are entitled to your freedom, but not at my expense,” he said, “and your freedom ends where my nose begins.”
Nicol said that landscapers and residents could find alternatives to the gas-powered leaf blowers.
“There are alternative tools that can be used,” Nicol said. “[It] seems to me that most of the folks who are in support of the leaf blower operations in the city have some kind of financial incentive, as opposed to an environmental incentive or a public health or public safety incentive.”
The meeting was not short of those opposed to a ban. One man, from a company that sold quieter blowers even did a demonstration by turning on his blower, along with another that sounded much noisier. Council Member Bruce Arthur called the proposed ban, “contrary to everything I believe in,” and “the pinnacle of hypocrisy.”
Maintenance and landscape company owners and the like came forward to challenge the ban, citing their businesses and their very livelihood to be in jeopardy. Some talked about the new technology, where lower emissions and less noise can be possible if you use blowers correctly or use the right kind of modern equipment.
Mayor Norton’s compromise to both sides by setting hours of operation may be just the beginning of a long continued discussion on leaf blowers. He said the council should be discussing this issue again.
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