DANA POINT : City Readies Ban on Leaf Blowers

Lawn and leaf blowers will soon be unwelcome in Dana Point.

The City Council took the first step toward banning gasoline-powered lawn and leaf blowers this week by directing the city staff to prepare an ordinance outlawing them.

The council vote was 3 to 2, with those in the majority saying the ban had been requested by constituents. The city’s code enforcement division has also fielded five complaints about the blowers during the past 18 months, according to a city staff report.

“I take a lot of calls on this,” said City Councilwoman Karen Lloreda. “They really are irritants that we have all had to live with.”

Mayor Bill Bamattre agreed, saying he gets at least a call a month complaining about the noise of the blowers. He said it would be cheaper for the city to ban the blowers instead of paying a city worker try to regulate the devices, as the city of Irvine does.

“The most practical thing we can do is prohibit them completely and then just respond when we get a complaint,” Bamattre said. “Other cities take the approach of having the blowers brought in, tested and then certified on their decibel level. All that just doesn’t make sense.”

Jim Cassady, owner of South County-based Cassady Brothers Landscaping, said lawn blowers are labor-saving devices and any ordinance banning them will inevitably cost homeowners more money.

“Our cleanup time will double or triple,” Cassady said. “Somebody has to pay for it. Our business is already such a competitive industry, our prices are as low as we can go. Homeowners and business owners will have to pay for the luxury of not having the blowers.”

Cassady suggested regulating the blowers because “you really don’t have to have them cranking at full speed.”

Councilwoman Eileen Krause, who opposed the ban along with Councilman Mike Eggers, agreed with Cassady’s claim that the ordinance could hurt local businessmen.

“I don’t like lawn blowers either, but I’m concerned any time we impact somebody’s way of doing business,” Krause said. “I think I would have tried regulating the hours of operation or maybe muffling them in some way.”