Narberth\u2019s borough council last week unanimously passed a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers and portable generators used to charge electric leaf blowers and their batteries. The gas-powered leaf blower ban will be seasonal before going into effect year-round in 2029. <\/p>\n
Electric-powered leaf blowers will be permitted all year, however the use of portable generators to charge electric leaf blowers will be banned effective Sept. 1. <\/p>\n
According to the ordinance, gas-powered leaf blowers will be banned from Sept. 1 to Oct. 1 in 2026; from Jan. 1 to April 1 and June 1 to Oct. 1 in 2027; from Jan. 1 to Oct. 1 in 2028; then year-round beginning Jan. 1, 2029. The restrictions will not apply during and within 24 hours after snowfall. <\/p>\n
Stores in the borough that sell gas-powered leaf blowers will be required to post signage warning customers of the ban beginning next month. <\/p>\n
Those who violate the ban will get a warning, then will face increasing fines for subsequent offenses ($100 for a first offense, $250 for a second offense, $600 for a third offense and beyond). <\/p>\n
Narberth\u2019s ordinance cites the Environmental Rights Amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution, which guarantees Pennsylvanians a right to clean air and water and the preservation of the environment. <\/p>\n
The borough \u201cwishes to continue to strengthen its commitment to public health and wellness and sustainability\u201d and believes that the ban will \u201chelp achieve greater equity,\u201d according to the ordinance. <\/p>\n
Narberth follows Lower Merion, which banned gas-powered leaf blowers last fall<\/a>, beginning with a seasonal prohibition that will become an all-out ban in 2029. Lower Merion\u2019s ordinance saw a swell of support from residents concerned about air pollution and noise, and pushback from some landscapers who said electric leaf blowing technology isn\u2019t yet advanced enough to replace gas-powered equipment. <\/p>\n Narberth officials said bringing their policy in line with Lower Merion\u2019s is an important step, as many landscaping companies operate in both municipalities. The borough of Narberth is encircled by Lower Merion Township. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are mimicking Lower Merion\u2019s language and their timelines here as much as possible, because obviously contractors work throughout Lower Merion and Narberth, so it makes sense to have one regulatory regime in place for them,\u201d Narberth Borough Council President Fred Bush said at a March 19 meeting. <\/p>\n Bush also said the borough has been \u201chearing this from our residents for a long time that this is something they want.\u201d <\/p>\n Radnor Township is considering a similar ban<\/a> and is hosting a town hall<\/a> on April 23 to discuss the proposal. <\/p>\n Inquirer Lower Merion<\/p>\n A weekly newsletter<\/p>\n Want to get Inquirer Lower Merion straight to your inbox every week? Sign up here for our guide to the news, stories, and events shaping life in your community.<\/p>\n This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer\u2019s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com\/donate<\/a>. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org\/supporters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min Gas-powered leaf blowers will soon be banned in Narberth, bringing the borough in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[183,185,184,186,77175],"class_list":["post-172023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion-headlines","tag-lower-merion-news","tag-lower-merion-township","tag-narberth-gas-powered-leaf-blowers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Inquirer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776793268_819_I_circle_black.png\")
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