City ban on gas-powered leaf blowers begins in April: Now Pasadena

A ban on gas-powered leaf blowers in Pasadena will go into effect next month.

According to the ordinance, from April 28, the use of gas leaf blowers will be prohibited in the City Hall.

Electric leaf blowers can only be used Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

It remains illegal for leaf blowers to operate on Sundays and public holidays.

Last March, the City Council voted to ban the use of gas leaf blowers.

Violations of the ban could result in fines of $116 for the first offense, $238 for the second, $599 for the third and $1,000 for the fourth and subsequent offenses.

Two-stroke engines do not have an independent lubrication system, so the fuel must be mixed with oil. It takes about four ounces of oil for every gallon of gasoline to run the engine, but all of that oil doesn’t burn properly, resulting in the release of air pollutants that escape the engine in large quantities.

If the same type of engine were placed in a car, it would burn a gallon of oil every 1,000 miles. An Edmunds report found that more carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons were emitted than a high-performance pickup truck.

The pickup truck would have to travel 3,000 miles to put the same amount of pollutants into the air.

At the time of the vote, five California cities had banned all leaf blowers. Twenty-five other California cities limit their bans to gas-powered leaf blowers. A new state law bans the sale of gas leaf blowers beginning in 2024.

As part of this law, $30 million will be made available to sole proprietors and other small landscaping businesses to help purchase small, zero-emission off-road equipment, including leaf blowers, lawn mowers, lawn and string trimmers.

Pursuant to the municipal ordinance governing leaf blowers, it is unlawful for any person to use or operate any type of leaf blower machine or device within a residential area before 8 p.m. in the morning and after 6 pm on weekdays and before. 9 hia from 5 pm on Saturday; or at any time on Sunday.

The ordinance also prohibits the use of any type of leaf blowing machine or device in the city within 500 feet of a residential area during that time. It is also illegal to use a leaf blower to blow debris beyond the property boundaries of the lot on which it is being used, into adjacent properties or public rights-of-way within the city, and stay, therefore, more than 15 minutes. .

Of the total of 359 complaints in the last seven years, the majority (275, or 77%) related to the use of a leaf blower outside the permitted hours. Local residents also complained about gardeners exceeding the permitted duration of use, noise level and litter noise over a property line, receiving 52 complaints (14%), 23 (6%) and 9 (3%), respectively.