City Council: Leaf blowers to burst upon Nov. 8 ballot

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Only 134 shopping days until Leaf Blower Day – that's Nov. 8, the date the Sonoma City Council has set for a ballot referendum to uphold or overturn the city's fledgling ban on gas-powered leaf blowers.

The Council voted 5-0 Monday night to place upon the November ballot the following question:

“Shall Sonoma City Council Ordinance No. 01-2016 banning the use of gas leaf blowers within the City's limits but permitting the use of electric and battery-powered leaf blowers under specified regulations be adopted?”

A “yes” vote would mean upholding the current ordinance which bans gas and restricts electric blowers; a “no” vote would be to overturn the new ordinance and revert to previous leaf blower rule of law.

Love the results or hate the results, the Great Sonoma Leaf Blower Vote of '16 will offer the one thing almost all Sonomans seek: an answer to the "ban leaf blowers?" question once and for all.

The issue of whether to ban leaf blowers – a proposition put forth by a group called Sonoma Neighbors Against Leaf Blowers, or SNALB – has swirled since 2010, with opponents of the leaf-shuffling power tools citing the machines' noise, gag-worthy fumes and greenhouse gas emissions as sufficient reason not to allow their use within the city limits. Leaf blower users and those who employ them, meanwhile, downplay their annoyances and say their landscaping efficiencies can't be matched by a rake.

Sonoma's leaf-blower love affair reached a climax recently when on March 21, a divided City Council voted 3-2 to adopt an ordinance banning gas-powered blowers and further restricting usage of electric blowers. Outraged leaf-blower supporters, in turn, launched a signature drive to place the ordinance on the ballot and, after collecting more than the required 640 valid signatures, the proposed referendum was “received” by the City Council on May 16.

The June 27 meeting posed three options to the Council: to repeal the March 21 gas-blower ban; to place the referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot; or to schedule a special election for the referendum.

City staff estimates the cost of adding the referendum to the Nov. 8 ballot at $6,500; a special election would have cost more than $32,000.

The Council was unanimous in its desire for the Nov. 8 ballot option.

On July 6, the Council will consider whether it wants to pen a ballot argument in favor of upholding the ordinance, or leave that duty for a private group, such as SNALB, to take up.

Email Jason at jason.walsh@sonomanews.com.

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