This fall has brought us many things: the promise of a new Lexington High School building, more Patriots’ wins than New England has seen in a single season since 2020, and hundreds of gas-powered leaf blower complaints.
You might be thinking, ‘didn’t we leave the debate over gas-powered leaf blowers in 2021 during that infamous Special Town Meeting discussion?’
Former LexObserver reporter Sophie Culpepper described that session as being “as messy and complex as watching Chris Nolan’s Inception backwards while sitting upside down on a pogo stick.”
That session, albeit spirited and confusing, ended in a resolution. That is, to phase out the legal use of gas-powered leaf blowers in Lexington, starting with banning commercial landscaping use of the tool in March 2025 and later banning residential use in March 2026.
March 2025 has come and gone, but some landscapers are still using the banned tool to clean up Lexington yards.
LexObserver has tallied dozens of gas-powered leaf blower complaints in the police blotter over the past few weeks. We checked in with the Lexington Police Department to see what their numbers look like — they’ve received 224 calls regarding use of gas-powered leaf blowers in town since Sept. 1, Police Chief Mike McLean told the Observer.
“This is still a highly contentious issue and we continue to hear strong opinions on both sides regarding the bylaw,” he said.
A first-time offense will get a resident a friendly warning, McLean said. A second-time offense will bring on a fine. The fine is the responsibility of the resident, not the landscaping company.
When the topic was being discussed in 2021, proponents argued Lexington should ban the leaf blowers because they are loud and bad for the environment. Residents who were against passing the motion argued it took away choice.
Cut to 2025, the new bylaw is now taking effect.
Many landscaping companies in town are using electronic equipment, McLean said. Some of the complaints LPD has gotten have been misunderstandings about the equipment being used.
“A lot of the calls we receive involve the use of this equipment which is not a violation,” he said.
Still, some landscapers have continued to use gas-powered leaf blowers in town.
LPD has been working with the town to share information with residents on the new bylaw since it was enacted in March. They also held a meeting with local landscapers to explain the new law and answer questions.
LPD hired a part-time “civilian enforcement officer” whose primary job was to respond to gas-powered leaf blower complaints. She resigned after a couple of months, McLean said. Since then, LPD officers have been responding to calls.
They just hired another person, who is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish to ease communication with landscapers, many of whom are immigrants. The new hire will start in the next few weeks and be ready for the spring clean-up, McLean said.
Come spring, the leaf blower rules will tighten up. In addition to commercial landscaping companies not being allowed to use gas-powered leaf blowers in town, residents won’t be able to use the landscaping tool either.
“Ultimately, we want and encourage voluntary compliance with the bylaw. We are hoping the longer [the bylaw] is in effect, more people will adhere to it,” McLean said.
The town asks residents to call LPD’s non-emergency business line, (781) 862-1212, to report violations.
First of all: It concerns me that neighbors are calling the police on each other:
who would do that?
Second: I’m very concerned with the legality of charging these fines to the owners of the property. If an independent hired company is violating the law with their practices, how has that ever been the homeowner’s responsibility?. For example: if a tree company is working on your property, and violates OSHA regulations, the business gets fined. If their truck is parked on your property and it is unregistered or uninsured, the fines go the driver. If your roofer drops a ladder on the neighbors car, it’s the roofer’s insurance that will pay for it.
How can the customer be held responsible for what a hired independent company does (and often they’re not even home!)
The reason I suspect is this: most landscape companies are not located in Lexington, and since this is only a local bylaw, Lexington has no jurisdiction (or teeth) to collect these fines in other towns. However since the homeowner is a resident, the enforcement is quite a bit easier through property liens, etc.
Thirdly: there is no restriction on gas/diesel generators that are often needed on the landscapers trucks to constantly charge all these batteries!
This bylaw was very poorly thought out and I think it will eventually be terminated.
1. The police department is in charge of enforcing the bylaw. Part of the reason for having a civilian enforcement officer is so that people don’t have to feel that they’re involving armed law enforcement in a non-emergency matter.
2. The bylaw specifically provides that both the landscaper and the homeowner are liable: “Any person who violates any provision of this bylaw, or who is the owner of property on which such violation occurs, shall be fined…” The language of the bylaw was approved by the attorney general before it went into force. (That doesn’t guarantee that it is lawful, but it does mean it went through multiple levels of legal review.) I just checked the leaf blower ordinances for Cambridge, Lincoln, and Arlington, and each includes liability for property owners.
3. Rules involve tradeoffs. The town could have banned all leaf blowers, but instead focused on what was considered particularly harmful. If you think the law goes too far, or doesn’t go far enough, you can propose amending it.
I think the bigger issue is the timing of leaf blowers and snow blowers. As someone who lives next to an apartment complex (and we all now understand that many more complexes will be built in town), the noise of blowers is deafening and lasts for hours and hours as landscapers clear large yards and complexes. I would never hold the workers responsible (these hard working folks have enough to worry about with ICE…) but it is the responsibility of the property owners and property managers. I’ve called property managers before and found them to be attentive but the call needs to be made. I actually feel bad for the residents who probably don’t like to be woken up at 7 a.m. on Saturdays and holidays. Leaf and snow blowers CAN NOT begin before 9 a.m. and must end by 5 p.m. on Weekends and Holidays. Sadly, this is frequently ignored. Here is Article 10 about limiting landscaping noise: https://lexingtonma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2172/Article-10-of-Special-Town-Meeting-2021-1-PDF?bidId=
The bylaw is in effect and there is no indication that this is going away in Lexington or the other 10 communities (9 nearby). It is discraceful that larger landscaping companies (like at least one headquartered in Arlington which has a similar ban) regularly use the loud gasoline blowers, and then pull out the electric ones when a police car comes by. On the plus side, there are companies who proudly use only the quiet electric leaf blowers and are thrilled with their performance. Are homeowners being charged increased prices but then have the landscaper use their old, loud gasoline leaf blowers? Perhaps they should check in with their landscaper and get a refund?
This past fall I observed a landscaper using a gas powered leaf blower much like a stand on lawn mower. It was huge, loud, powerful, and extremely effective so that the job was finished very quickly. Where are the battery powered alternatives to heavy duty tools such as this? A team of workers with battery powered, blowers? A new Cyber-blower from Tesla, perhaps?
Ban the trees and leaves will not fall.
It’s sad that so many people spend time spying on and policing their neighbors. They need to find something more productive and kind to do.
Your not saving the world being angry and wasting police resources.
I’ve been woken up twice by leaf blowers. I’m a senior citizen. I’m not trying to save the world (I give money to Democratic candidates to that end). Loud leaf blowers are a health hazard.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/06/09/health/noise-exposure-health-impacts.html
“My colleagues have just published a fascinating project exploring how unpleasant noise can take years off your life, a largely unrecognized health threat that’s increasing the risk of hypertension, stroke and heart attacks for Americans.
“When we hear the whooshing din of a freeway or the thundering of a low-flying plane, the sound alerts the stress detection center in our brain, which then sets off a cascade of reactions in our body that, over time, can take a serious toll on our health.
“While we think we get used to these ambient noises after a while, the data actually shows the opposite: Repeated exposure makes people more sensitive to noise, lowering our tolerance for unpleasant sounds and essentially making the bad effects worse.
“Noise is worth worrying about,” Emily Baumgaertner, who led the reporting, told me. “The relationship between noise and health looks fairly linear on a plot. The louder your environment is, the higher your risk of heart disease, heart attack and even heart-related death.”
It’s sad that so many people spend time spying on and policing their neighbors. They need to find something more productive and kind to do.
Are you suggesting that the landscapers ignore the bylaw; police do a better job patrolling; people ignore the noise & 2-cycle fumes & particulates?
It should be a requirement that if an officer responds to a leaf blower call, that they are required to disclose who called them. That may stop some people who have nothing better to do from calling on their next door neighbor.