ST. MICHAELS 鈥 After a five-year discussion on leaf blowers, the Commissioners of St. Michaels passed an ordinance limiting contractors鈥 use of leaf blowers to certain times and days.
Contractors can use leaf blowers from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays. The use of leaf blowers on Saturdays, Sundays and federal holidays is now prohibited for contractors.
The ordinance does not apply to residents of St. Michaels. Homeowners working on their own property are allowed to use leaf blowers and other loud equipment from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday under town code.
鈥淚鈥檓 really happy that the commercial contractors as well as the residents were able to come up with the resolution,鈥 Alfred Mercier, commission president, said.
The discussion around leaf blowers has reared its head several times since 2020. It was brought up for consideration in 2023 and again on Jan. 22 of this year.
The discussion Jan. 22 was about whether the town should only allow electric leaf blowers, which make less noise than gasoline-powered leaf blowers. The commissioners ultimately decided not to include language on gas or electric leaf blowers in the ordinance passed Wednesday.
Contractors and St. Michaels public works officials argued gas leaf blowers make their jobs easier. Electric or battery-powered leaf blowers must be charged, which takes time. They also argued that gas-powered leaf blowers are more powerful and help them accomplish their jobs faster.
鈥淲e thought it was a very tremendous burden for contractors to go totally out to electric leaf blowers,鈥 Mercier said. 鈥淪o instead of doing that, we put time limitations and also the fact that they will not be able to do any work on weekends now.
鈥淒uring the week, we lessened the time by an hour each day,鈥 he continued. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e hoping that will appease a lot of the residents and obviously create a more quiet neighborhood for them, especially on the weekends.鈥
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