BY JESSICA TAYLOR
The Roslyn Board of Trustees held a Zoom meeting on Tuesday to discuss a proposed change in local law to prohibit gas-powered leaf blowers.
Mayor John Durkin started the meeting by combining the laws 179-44 and 179-47 that are being discussed as one topic.
John P. Gibbons Jr., the village attorney, said, “In our existing section 179-47, which is entitled Prohibited Acts, we have added subsection 10 making it illegal to operate or permit the operation of any gas-powered leaf blower.”
In other municipalities, gas-powered leaf blowers are barred in certain months. Gibbins noted that the village clerk mailed out notices to a few dozen landscaping companies hoping to hear back from them.
Deputy Mayor Marshall E. Bernstein said, “The use of gas-powered leaf blowers should be seasonal, starting in June and ending in September.”
Trustee Marta Genovese concurred with Bernstein on the seasonality.
Trustee Sarah Oral said, “There has definitely been a push to switch to electric or battery-operated leaf blowers and lawn equipment in general.” After speaking to a few manufacturers she concluded that electrically operated leaf blowers are not yet as powerful as their gas counterparts and won’t be for at least three years.
Oral said “we are an environmentally friendly village” and expressed concerns for the environment, the village, the workers and the overall health of everyone involved. She also mentioned that PSEG of Long Island is offering incentives to residents that switch to electric lawn equipment or leaf blowers that use rechargeable batteries.
“I’m getting the feeling everyone prefers the seasonality version of the law,” said Durkin, commenting that if the quality of the electric equipment changes, the law should change along with it. The board agreed to keep its options open for now.
