Dust Has Yet to Settle, but Blowers Seem to Be Winning Battle

Laguna Niguel City Councilman Eddie Rose anticipated little trouble gathering support for his proposal that the city ban gas-powered leaf blowers.

After all, he said, “they pollute, they are noisy, and they don’t accomplish anything. All they do is blow leaves from one place to another. . . . They’re a hoax.”

He was stunned to discover that he was the only one of the five City Council members to feel that way. Other officials, with support from landscapers and gardeners, said they were concerned about the costs to residents and the city if they forced a return to rakes and hoses.

“What happened was a very well-orchestrated and well-organized opposition by the landscape maintenance companies,” Rose said. “They put out a lot of scare tactics saying the homeowners association fees would be raised.”

Councilwoman Mimi Krogius Walters was among the majority who disagreed with Rose, arguing that existing law is adequate to regulate the devices and that there is little public interest in a ban. Also, she said, banning leaf blowers from public property could cost the city more than $200,000 a year in additional labor.

“We have noise regulations in our city, and the noise regulations take into account the noise from leaf blowers,” Walters said. “My biggest concern was that we had only five complaints. There was not enough support.”

That is generally how public and official sentiment has run as cities across Orange County have fought the Battle of the Blowers. Laguna Beach is the only place so far to ban them outright.

At least 10 cities, including Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, La Palma and Irvine, regulate leaf blowers, generally by capping decibel levels and limiting hours of use.

Other municipalities have ruled that the devices must comply with general noise ordinances.

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Though there is no question that leaf blowers are loud and kick up dust and trash, the machines are less labor-intensive than raking a lawn and cheaper than hosing down a driveway in a drought-prone region where the cost of water is high.

In 1996, Cypress considered tightening restrictions on blowers but dropped the idea after officials figured out that doing so would drive up city maintenance costs by $39,000 a year.

Most officials say that blowers are a necessary nuisance, an efficient method of maintaining lawns and sidewalks, particularly in planned communities where association dues pay for yard services. Raking and sweeping a subdivision would almost surely drive up monthly fees, they say.

“It would be very expensive,” said Mary Papillion, co-owner of Papy’s Lawn Service in Brea, which has been servicing northern Orange County for 25 years. “You have to triple or quadruple your employees because you have to do all this raking and sweeping. It’s a lot of work.”

Tustin struggled with the issue in 1995 and ended up forbidding leaf blower use from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through Friday, and from 5 p.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday.

City Councilman Jim Potts, who voted for the ordinance, said some responsibility falls to manufacturers, who should make quieter products.

Noise was not the only concern in Laguna Beach, where leaf blowers were banned in 1993 after residents complained.

“There was a strong feeling in Laguna Beach that it was blowing up dust and feces and contaminating the air that we breathe,” City Councilman Wayne J. Baglin said. “It was just being blown onto the neighbors’ property. It was redistributing litter.”

Baglin said the ordinance is successful and does not appear to be an economic hardship.

“One way or another it appears they have been able to make things work without a devastating economic impact,” he said.

But Councilman Wayne L. Peterson, the only Laguna Beach official to oppose the ban, said some constituents were hurt.

“I felt it was an overreaction,” he said. “There were a great many seniors who were hit very, very hard by an increase in rates by the gardeners because they now have to sweep or use water. The alternatives were very time-consuming.”

If the result is a healthier environment, the added time and money are worthwhile, said Ann Cristoph, a landscape architect and former Laguna Beach councilwoman who voted for the ban.

“A lot more people are doing business from home, and they’re listening to this all day,” she said. “It was an endless noise problem. . . . You should be able to live in your home in peace and quiet.”

In other cities, however, gardeners have prevailed so far.

“This law would put me out of business,” gardener Dale Crowley told the Laguna Niguel City Council when the issue came up last month.

“I only need to use these blowers five to eight minutes at each house. I can’t get the same results with brooms and water.”

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Blower Bounds

Laguna Beach is the only city in Orange County to ban leaf blowers. At least 10 other cities have restricted the hours during which blowers can be used. They are:

* Costa Mesa

* Cypress

* Dana Point

* Fountain Valley

* Huntington Beach

* Irvine

* La Palma

* Orange

* Tustin

* Westminster

Source: City of Laguna Niguel; Researched by FRANK MESSINA / For The Times