SWAMPSCOTT — With Memorial Day having passed, the town’s gas-powered leaf-blower ban has now gone into effect for the summer for its second year.
The second year of the policy differs from the first, as Town Meeting voted in favor of amending certain details of the bylaw.
The seasonal ban will be in place until Labor Day, which falls on Sept. 2 this year. Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald emphasized that the primary reason for the rule is environmental and not noise-related.
“This is just really helping folks understand the combustion and air-quality issues that these small, two-stroke engines create,” Fitzgerald said. “There’s been a lot of folks concerned that there has been a proliferation of these.”
During May’s Town Meeting, Select Board member David Grishman presented an amendment adding language facilitating the enforcement of the bylaw by entities such as the Police, Health, and Building departments. After discussion among voters, two additional amendments were made to Grishman’s proposed amendment. Second and subsequent violations of the bylaw were originally proposed to result in a $300 fine to the owner of the property that the leaf blower was used on. However, the fine was reduced to $50 and the penalized party was changed from the property owner to the individual leaf-blower user or the company they represent.
“As written, I find that the warrant article is unfair and unjust, as it penalizes the property owner even though the property owner is not guilty of the prescribed conduct,” resident Norman Erlich said during Town Meeting.
Erlich presented a hypothetical situation in which a homeowner could hire a landscaping company to perform work on their property while they are not home. He argued that if the company used an illegal leaf blower, the homeowner would be found at fault based on the language of the article.
Resident Jack Bierman argued that the $300 penalty was too severe in comparison with other town violations.
“Our bylaw provides for a $50 fine for any violation of our general bylaws,” Bierman said. “I don’t think this leaf-blower use is any worse than not shoveling your walkway when someone could trip or fall… or letting your dog run around Philips Park so that the next kid who fields a ground ball falls on their face in a pile of dog feces.”
Fitzgerald echoed Bierman’s sentiments at Town Meeting, saying that the town hopes to not have to enforce the fine on anyone.
“Our goal is not to run around and fine people,” Fitzgerald said. “We want to help them find a better way to address some of the environmental responsibilities that we all share… Swampscott has a lot of good neighbors.”
