Leaf Blower Ban Blocked By Morristown Council, Moves To Public Vote

MORRISTOWN, NJ — The issue of restricting gas-powered leaf blowers is going to come down to a public vote this November.

The debated ordinance, which was produced by council member Stefan Armington's successful petition, was put to a vote by the Morristown Council on Tuesday, Aug. 8. After a contentious discussion between the mayor and the councilman who led the initiative, the ordinance was defeated 4-3.

However, the matter will now be turned over to the public during this upcoming election.

Armington started the petition earlier this summer, calling on Morristown to take a stand and take action on a contributor to local pollutants and resident headaches: gas-powered leaf blowers. The failed ordinance would have called for a seasonal ban on the use of gas-powered leaf blowers between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 of each year.

Prior to Tuesday's meeting, Armington garnered more than 500 signatures from around town to support his cause, showing a great deal of interest from the local community.

Joan Belz, a local who helped gather signatures, spoke about her personal reasons for wanting to see this initiative succeed during the ordinance's public hearing. According to Belz, the majority of the residents she spoke with who were hesitant to sign the petition were only doing so out of concern for rising costs for lawn care.

"People living in condos are very afraid that if their lawn service is required to buy an electric leaf blower, their rates will go up. But if you check in with Maplewood, Montclair, and Princeton, all those worries about people leaving and that our rates will go up that doesn't bear out," Belz said.

However, Morristown Administrator Jillian Barrick estimated that, excluding costs for replacing batteries, purchasing new equipment for the Public Works department would run the town $27,000 to $28,000.

The chairman of Morristown's zoning board, Steve Pylypchuk, spoke in favor of the law, claiming that while working from home on his property, he frequently has to shut his windows or move to another room to block out the noise.

"It is a noise issue. It currently violates the noise ordinance; there is no doubt about that," Pylypchuk said.

Armington concurred with some remarks made during the council discussion, claiming that it comes down to a money matter and that people who own gas-powered leaf blowers do not want to give them up and pay for something else.

The question really comes down to: is the quality of life that the noise ordinance provides worthwhile, or is it more about the money?" Armington said.

Armington then stated that Mayor Tim Dougherty had previously stated on record that the town does not enforce ordinances on landscaping equipment, which Dougherty quickly refuted.

"Don't misspeak on what I said. I said that if you expect the police officer who is in the middle of a traffic stop to go on a call because somebody is using a leaf blower and stop what they're doing and to enforce a leaf blower, that's the angle I went. Let's be clear: the administration has no authority over making laws. Don't look at the administration; that's your job, not our job," Dougherty said.

The mayor also objected to Armington's alleged suggestion that the administration does not look into complaints regarding the noise ordinance. Armington, however, insisted that he was only pointing out that the town wasn't issuing many noise violations. Armington questioned whether a noise ordinance was even necessary if the administration couldn't enforce it.

"Do you expect that the police are going to spend all their time chasing one call on the noise ordinance when they're in the middle of doing some policing?" Dougherty said.

Councilman Robert Iannaccone stated that he believes that this issue should be left up to the voters of Morristown and that he himself signed the petition.

In the end, Tawanna Cotten, Armington, and council president Sandi Mayer all voted in favor of the resolution. David Silva, Toshiba Foster, Iannaccone, and Vice President Nathan Umbriac all cast no votes.