Beaconsfield moves to partially ban leaf blowers during the summer

Leaf blowers in Beaconsfield during the summer months may soon become a thing of the past thanks to a motion filed at Monday evening’s council meeting.

The city’s mayor, Georges Bourelle, said the research they obtained indicates the gardening tools are causing a lot of noise and air pollution.

“The 38-minute use of a gas leaf blower is the equivalent of driving am F150 pickup truck 6,000 kilometres,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The 38-minute use of a gas leaf blower is the equivalent of driving am F150 pickup truck 6,000 kilometres," he said.

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He added that his is not the first city in the area to partially ban them.

“Here on the island of Montreal, Montreal West and Westmount have initiated a ban or certainly a restriction on leaf blowers.”

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Bourelle said more than 90 per cent of residents are on board with the idea.

“We’ve had a lot of people come to council — received a lot of emails,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We've had a lot of people come to council — received a lot of emails," he said.

“Many of our councillors have had one-on-one discussions with many residents and most of them — in fact in the e-mails and in the council meetings — have been in favour.”

But some residents don’t support the plan and some are even questioning where this is all coming from.

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Al Randall said he’s fed up of voicing his opinion and not being listened to by the city.

“For the amount of time that a leaf blower is operating to do its job — it is so miniscule compared to the overall — that it makes absolutely no sense.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "For the amount of time that a leaf blower is operating to do its job — it is so miniscule compared to the overall — that it makes absolutely no sense."

A small-scale landscaping business owner, Katy Weaver, is also bothered by the city’s push towards no leaf blowers during the summer months.

She said she will have to charge her customers more now to do everything by hand.

“We don’t like to use them too much,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We don't like to use them too much," she said.

“Our purpose is not to annoy the neighbours but we are trying to get on the property and off the property as fast as possible.”

Bourelle said the decision is not final but is set in motion. If all goes according to plan, leaf blowers will be partially banned from June 1 to Sept. 30 as of next month.