Banning gas leaf blowers - Paying for Minuteman School's Assessment
You can click the blue article links to see the details around each article - including amendments which are all available as URL hyperlinks at the bottom of each article's own link. You can click this link to keep up with which Articles and Amendments or Substitute Motions have been passed/dealt with/stopped.
| Article 16 BYLAW AMENDMENT/NOISE REGULATIONS FOR GAS POWERED LEAF BLOWERS To see if the Town will vote to amend Title V, Article 12 (“Noise Abatement”) to further regulate or prohibit the use of internal combustion powered leaf blowers; or take any action related thereto. |
The big issue tonight is a proposed ban on gas-powered leaf blowers. There were several amendments to tighten up (or loosen) the proposed ban, one to include Saturday in days when such devices should be used. The main motion proposes a sensible transition period for residential and commercial gas leaf blowers to electric devices. Using the logic that leaf blowers are regulated under the "noise abatement" rules in our Arlington bylaws, the moderator decided to limit comments to only those about the noise of leaf blowers, even though the proponents and supporters would surely have lots to say about fumes, dust and pollution. Regardless of how a person feels about the issue, I thought it was pretty bad to limit discussion in Town Meeting to only one aspect of an issue being seriously and contentiously debated.
Anyway, the ban (with 2 year phaseout) of gas leaf blowers passed.
Here's a detail of what passed in this much amended Article:
| Article 55 APPROPRIATION/MINUTEMAN REGIONAL VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL AND OUT OF DISTRICT VOCATIONAL PLACEMENTS |
