Response from Director of Engineering regarding Leafblower Use
Staff response to the public concern over leaf-blowers, citing operational efficiency and safety in clearing public spaces.
From: Ivan Leung ILeung@viewroyal.ca Sent: January 13, 2023 1:09 PM To: Elena Bolster EBolster@viewroyal.ca Subject: Re: Please consider ending leafblower use in View Royal
Good Afternoon Elena - Engineering and Parks response to this is as follows
- Regarding noise:
- Although Town work and work by their agents is exempt from the noise bylaw, the leaf blower work described below, that is done for park and road maintenance, endeavors to follow the noise bylaw.
- Electrical leaf blowing, while available to consumers, is not yet operationally economical due to efficiency, battery life, etc. The technology is not quite there for commercial / industrial use.
- Completing leaf tasks through manual raking versus blowing does have its setbacks:
- The time it would take to rake, collect and disburse the leaves as suggested would take a substantial amount of time, resources and extra staff to complete the work, both for parks and road maintenance. While I haven’t estimated the amount of extra work it would take in detail, conversations with our Parks and Public works staff yielded a similar response.
- The clearing of leaves from public spaces needs to be done in a timely manner, especially pathways, entrance ways and parking lot areas. It is important for safety issues as well as the protection of surrounding properties
- Regarding plant health and the overall service life of the leaves:
- For the leaves that are removed from some parks (park areas such as Helmcken Centennial Park and the View Royal Park parking lot), these are taken to a local facility for processing into compost for reuse.
- For the leaves collected for road maintenance this goes to our Public Works Contractor for processing into soil as well for reuse.
- There are many parks within View Royal whereby the leaves are blown off of the accessible areas and within bush lines and natural areas. This encourages improved habitat and existing plant health in these natural spaces as the writer has indicated below.
Thanks,
Ivan Leung, P.Eng Director of Engineering Town of View Royal
From: Susan Low Sent: January 4, 2023 4:41 PM To: Mayor And Council Email mayorandcouncil@viewroyal.ca Subject: Please consider ending leafblower use in View Royal
Dear Mayor and Council,
Congratulations on your recent elections/re-elections to Council and thank you for your service to this community.
I am writing to ask that Mayor and Council consider investigating what bylaws or other mechanisms could be used to limit and ultimately end the use of leaf-blowers in View Royal. There are several reasons why I believe this would be in the best interest of our community:
- The noise emitted by leaf-blowers is excessive and disturbing to the residents of View Royal, even if the use of leaf-blowers is reserved for daytime hours. Even before COVID-19, there were many residents who had shift-work schedules (e.g. at the hospital) which necessitated them sleeping during the daytime. Now these residents are joined in their desire for daytime quiet by residents who are working full-time from home, and find that leaf-blowers interrupt meetings and disturb their focus.
- The noise of leaf-blowers is disturbing to wildlife, including native species and insects such as bees, which are critical to having healthy gardens and parks.
- Leaf-blowers remove leaf litter, which is part of the important habitat for birds and insects during the winter months especially.
- The sound level and emissions of leaf-blowers are hazardous to the hearing and respiratory health of machine operators and others nearby.
Leaf-blowers are used instead of manual raking to maintain gardens, but tidy gardens could become barren gardens if the insects and birds that pollinate plants are driven away or eradicated. My observation of landscaping crews that use leaf-blowers is that there is frequently a lot of noise produced, with minimal or underwhelming results, and the benefits are short-lived considering our frequent ocean breezes. The impacts of these machines, however, are long-lasting.
The impacts of leaf-blowers are felt by neighbours and visitors to View Royal, not just the property owners who use them (or hire gardening crews who use them). As such, a community-wide regulation would be beneficial.
Thank you for considering this issue.
Susan Low 904 - 288 Eltham Road View Royal, BC