In the second year after the Rye City Council passed a law increasing restrictions on the use of gas-powered leaf blowers, citizen complaints about leaf blower noise have nearly doubled.
The Rye City Police Department reported that calls about illegal leaf blower use — including the use of more than one blower — rose to 107 in 2024 from 60 in 2023.
The citizen complaints led to sharply increased police enforcement. There were 28 citations issued for leaf blower violations in 2024, up from just five in 2023. A first offense carries a fine of $250, and continued violations can lead to fines as high as $1500.
The Rye law restricts gas leaf blower use to two periods: March 1 to April 15 and Oct. 1 to Dec. 15. The law does, however, permit the use of the quieter electric leaf blowers at any time of year, though only between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Sundays.
That electric blower provision signaled the council’s enthusiasm for a transition toward electric, said Rye City Mayor Josh Cohn.
“The new law sets out our pro-electric purpose,” Cohn said.
The continued gas leaf blower seasons, Cohn said, reflected the view at the time that electric blowers were not up to the demands of heavy cleanup.
“This is something that may change with improvements to electric blowers and it is something the city should be alert to,” Cohn said.
Councilman Bill Henderson echoed Cohn’s view.
“Noise from gas blowers remains a quality-of-life issue for Rye residents,” he said. “Now that landscapers have had a couple of years to purchase electric equipment, and assuming the electric technology has improved, perhaps it’s time for the City Council to look at squeezing the (gas blower) seasons a bit more and also consider a ban on using gas leaf blowers on Sundays as well.”
During council debate, landscaper Curtis Spacavento has pushed for an extension for gas blower season, and he has cautioned that electric blower batteries may pose a fire hazard.
Nationwide, more than 100 cities have banned or restricted gas-powered blowers.
According to the National Institute for Health, two gas powered blowers can emit a noise level of up to 100 decibels and exceed the World Health Organization standard at a distance of 800 feet.
Concern about noise and fumes have led some communities, including Montclair and Maplewood, N.J., to ban gas-powered blowers outright. A statewide ban in California took effect in July 2024. Closer to Rye, Scarsdale prohibits the use of gas blowers from January through September.
Any push to require electric blowers would effectively impose costs on landscapers who would need to buy new equipment.
It’s worth noting that, although blowers complaints have increase in Rye, they are not the most common citizen call in Rye: according to Public Safety Commissioner Michael Kopy, home alarms led to police calls 561 times from Jan. 1 through Dec. 5.