File #: Int 0454-2018    Version: * Name: The sale and use of gas-powered leaf blowers.
Type: Introduction Status: Filed (End of Session)
Committee: Committee on Environmental Protection
On agenda: 2/14/2018
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to the sale and use of gas-powered leaf blowers
Sponsors: Daniel Dromm , Karen Koslowitz, Paul A. Vallone, Robert F. Holden
Council Member Sponsors: 4
Summary: The proposed legislation, if enacted, would amend § 24-242(a)(2) Lawn Care Devices to prohibit the use of a leaf blower before noon on weekends, would amend §24-242(a)(3) to limit the permissible decibel level of the leaf blowers and would further add a new subchapter 13 and §§ 20-699.7 and §20-699.8 to make it unlawful to distribute, sell, or offer for sale any gas-powered leaf blower which exceeds the maximum decibel limit and to provide penalties for violating the law. This local law shall take effect one year after its enactment.
Attachments: 1. Summary of Int. No. 454, 2. Int. No. 454, 3. February 14, 2018 - Stated Meeting Agenda, 4. Hearing Transcript - Stated Meeting 2/14/18, 5. Minutes of the Stated Meeting - February 14, 2018

Int. No. 454

 

By Council Members Dromm, Koslowitz, Vallone and Holden

 

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to the sale and use of gas-powered leaf blowers

 

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

 

Section 1. Section 24-242 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as added by local law number 113 for the year 2005, is amended to read as follows:

§ 24-242 Lawn Care Devices. (a) No person shall operate, [or] use, or cause to be operated or used, any lawn care device:

                     (1) On weekdays before eight a.m. and after seven p.m. or sunset, whichever occurs later; or

                     (2) On weekends and New York state and federal holidays before nine a.m. and after six p.m., except that no gas-powered leaf blower shall be used before noon on these days; or

                     (3) At any time in such a way as to create an unreasonable noise. For the purposes of this section unreasonable noise shall include but shall not be limited to an aggregate sound level of 65 [db(A)] dB(A) or more for all non-gas-powered leaf blower lawn care devices, and an aggregate sound level exceeding 65 dB(A) for gas-powered leaf blowers, attributable to the source or sources, as measured at any point within a receiving property. The provisions of paragraph (1) of this subdivision shall not apply to an employee of the department of parks and recreation or an agent or contractor of the department of parks and recreation who operates or uses or causes to be operated or used any lawn care device between the hours of seven a.m. and eight a.m. in any location more than three hundred feet from any building that is lawfully occupied for residential use. The distance of three hundred feet shall be measured in a straight line from the point on the exterior wall of such building nearest to any point in the location at which such lawn care device is operated or used or caused to be operated or used.

 (b) No person shall operate, [or] use, or cause to be operated or used, any gas-powered leaf blower [not equipped with a functioning muffler] between or on the dates of May 15 and September 15 of any calendar year.

--                     (c) No person shall operate, use, or cause to be operated or used, a gas-powered leaf blower rated to produce a maximum sound level in excess of 65 dB(A) as determined in accordance with the most current version of American national standards institute (ANSI) B175.2-2000.

                     § 2. Chapter 4 of title 20 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new subchapter 13 to read as follows:

SUBCHAPTER 13

Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers

                     § 20-699.7 Prohibited gas-powered leaf blower sales. It shall be unlawful for any person to distribute, sell or offer for sale any gas-powered leaf blower rated to produce a maximum sound level in excess of 65 dB(A) measured 50 feet from the source as determined in accordance with the most current version of American national standards institute (ANSI) B175.2-2000.

                     § 20-699.8 Penalty. Any person who violates any provision of this subchapter shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $200, except where such person has previously been found to have violated any provision of this subchapter in the previous 24 months, in which case the person shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $200 nor more than $1000.

§ 3. This local law takes effect 1 year after it becomes law.

SS/JJ

LS #19/Int. 0059-2014

LS #1083 01/05/2018 3:33PM