Vancouver Island’s Oak Bay to phase out noisy, polluting, gas-powered garden tools

The Vancouver Island District of Oak Bay has unanimously voted to phase out the use of noisy, climate-polluting, gas-powered garden equipment.

Coun. Tara Ney brought the motion forward at a council meeting Tuesday, as the issue of gas-powered leaf blowers has been an “increasing concern” to the community in recent years.

Banned items will include chainsaws and lawnmowers. Users, from homeowners to professional landscaping companies, will have three years to phase out gas-powered items.

In January last year, the District of Oak Bay began a five-year transition to phase out carbon-producing garden equipment within its own public works department.

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More than 600 residents had signed a petition supporting the district’s corporate efforts to gradually eliminate gas-fuelled garden tools, citing “deleterious consequences” for soil quality and the food chain, long-term physical and mental issues associated with the noise, and high pollution.

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Gas-powered leaf blowers have been banned in parts of Vancouver’s West End for more than 20 years and council passed a motion in January to phase out all gas-powered landscaping tools by 2024.

The District of Saanich also flirted with a ban on leaf blowers last year but the motion failed and the issue was referred to committee for further work.

Oak Bay staff must submit a report to council within the next month providing recommendations for a new bylaw and proposals for education and enforcement.

— with files from The Canadian Press and Global News’ Elizabeth McSheffrey