Leaf Blowers Disrupt Burr Ridge Official's Thanksgiving

BURR RIDGE, IL – A trio of backpack leaf blowers in the neighborhood disrupted a Burr Ridge trustee's Thanksgiving.

He had the power to do something.

At Monday's Village Board meeting, Trustee Guy Franzese proposed a ban on companies from performing landscaping activities at homes on six holidays. The board unanimously approved the measure.

The holidays are New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Franzese told his colleagues that from 1 p.m. to dusk on Thanksgiving, a landscape contractor had three leaf blowers and a lawn mower going two doors down.

He said he measured the noise at 80 decibels at his front doorstep, but he said he checked the village's ordinance and found such work was allowed on holidays.

"(The noise) permeated into my house," Franzese said. "It disrupted our Thanksgiving."

The trustee said he was sure his neighbor, a snowbird who was away, wouldn't have allowed such work on Thanksgiving had the neighbor been aware.

Other landscape contractors in the neighborhood, Franzese said, remove mufflers from their leaf blowers, perhaps for better engine mileage. That's another noise issue, he said.

The change to the village's ordinance does not affect those who perform their own lawn maintenance. Franzese put himself in that category, saying he does the work during regular hours, not, say, at 6 a.m.

Trustee Russell Smith urged the village to go further. He noted the village's hours for landscaping contractors – 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays.

"I don't think there's any reason why we should allow landscaping equipment at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday. Not all of us are working at 7 a.m. Some people are sleeping in," he said.

He pushed to match Saturday's hours to weekdays and ban such work on Sundays.

"Why would anyone want to hear leaf blowers going at 7 p.m. while they are trying to enjoy a dinner outside during the summer," Smith said.

Trustee Joe Snyder, an insurance salesman, disagreed, saying he works with many landscapers in his business.

"There are days it rains. There are other days when the weather takes its toll," Snyder said. "You're going to punish them and say, 'OK, start at 8 this day, take this day out.'"

Mayor Gary Grasso said the subject was worth further discussion. He said he, too, didn't like landscapers working on Sundays.

He suggested the board revisit the topic early next year.