Montclair Council Passes First-Reading Ordinance on Leaf Blowers, Discusses Budget Issues – TAPinto.net
MONTCLAIR, NJ – The Montclair Township Council’s conference meeting on February 2 was dominated by the leaf-blower issue both in public comment and on the agenda. The council scheduled another first-reading vote on an ordinance, amended since it was tabled a month earlier, that revises the current rules and regulations governing the use of leaf blowers with two-stroke gasoline-powered motors.
The amended ordinance up for a vote would restrict the usage of such leaf blowers to between March 15 and May 15 and between October 15 and December 15 on weekdays between 9:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M., on Saturdays between 10:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M., and on Sundays, Good Friday and Thanksgiving between 10:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. An occupant or owner of a property can use gas-powered leaf blowers on weekdays between 9:00 A.M. and 8:00 P.M. on weekdays between 10:00 A.M. and 8:00 P.M. on Saturdays.
Several people called in to argue the merits of the extended ban from the standpoint of preserving the quality of life, with at least one resident expressing serious consideration of moving out of Montclair, and many other callers said the ordinance should go farther. Resident Steve Buckingham expressed concern about the issue of enforcing it, saying that landscapers have rarely honored the ban unless residents complain. He was soon followed by local attorney Edna Estime, who asked about the more stringent penalties, including up to 90 days in the municipal or county jail. Councilor-at-Large Robert Russo responded by saying that there are people trying to work from home and children trying to learn their school studies from home who need peace and quiet, and he defended the penalties as protection for the people who need it. He also noted the provision requiring protective equipment for the workers employed by the landscaping companies to make the companies more responsible.
“We’re not fining anybody over $100, that’s a low fine,” he said of one of the penalties. “We’re not throwing people in jail. There’s actually no enforcement, is what people are complaining about. So I’m just asking the caller, ‘Understand what we’re trying to do – help the workers who do this terrible and noisy and unhealthy work who are pushed to an extreme.’”
Township Attorney Ira Karasick, responding to a caller (not Edna Estime) who saw that there were other ordinances with jail-time penalties on the books, said that the penalty clause comes from a standard maximum penalty set by the state. He stressed that no one has been, and will not be, sent to jail for violating these ordinances; rather, the maximum penalties are applied across the board based on state guidance. The difference with the leaf-blower ordinance, Karasick said, is that it has a minimum penalty, not a maximum one, and minimum penalties are in fact not required by state law. While a minimum is not needed legally, the ordinance as written sticks to standard legal language. Councilor Russo seized upon Karasick’s comments to re-iterate that the township isn’t trying to hurt anybody, but Estime, who called in a second time, thought that the language was too punitive and suggested deleting the harsher penalties that are not required.
Mayor Sean Spiller and the councilors were mostly supportive of the ordinance in its latest draft, with Third Ward Councilor Lori Price Abrams citing the provision to give landscape workers extra protection and suggesting that a public-education campaign could be employed to get landscapers to become compliant.
Councilor at-Large Peter Yacobellis thought it was a good start to strengthen existing regulations for gas-powered leaf blowers. But Fourth Ward Councilor David Cummings noted that municipal and county landscape workers are not covered. He also saw trouble from a suit brought against Maplewood by landscapers for their leaf-blower rules. He feared that if the landscapers win, Montclair could be sued, costing the township money in legal fees, and he suggested that Montclair could get a baseline to make a legally sound ordinance but if the landscapers lose. Furthermore, he said that Quiet Montclair, the group fighting gasoline-powered leaf blowers, has not reached out to his constituents in the Fourth Ward, whom Councilor Cummings felt have not been adequately represented in the discussion. Deputy Mayor / First Ward Councilor William Hurlock, responding to constituents grousing that the ordinance does not go far enough, said he wanted to go as far as needed and also questioned the penalties involved, and he shared Councilor Cummings’ concern of the money the township would have to spend as a defendant of a lawsuit over the issue. In the end, the council did pass the ordinance amending gas-powered leaf-blower regulations, but on a 5-2 vote – Councilors Cummings and Hurlock voted against it.
Also in public comment, residents belonging to or in solidarity with Montclair Beyond Policing asked about the budget, saying that there should be clarity as to the crafting of the budget and the balancing of police spending vis-à-vis spending on social services, with several callers opining that social services provided by the police, like drug treatment for victims of non-fatal overdoses, could be handled by other departments for a fraction of the cost of police programs and provide more cost-effective results. Township Manager Tim Stafford said that the 2021 budget has been a work in progress since the fall, with department heads submitting requests to the Council Finance Committee, and that their proposals will be presented in public and printed on the agenda for the budget meeting, the date of which has not been determined. Also, other callers demanded more information of the Montclair fireman accused of participating in the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, saying that what Manager Stafford calls a personnel issue is a community issue given the lack of trust minority residents would have in a white public-safety employee accused of racially motivated attack. Manager Stafford reiterated that it is a personnel issue, which he is on record as taking very seriously, and he added that he is legally forbidden to discuss it in public.
The council also passed several resolutions, including a resolution withdrawing from an agreement for nursing services with Nutley, a resolution supporting the Essex-Hudson Greenway, a resolution for the reappointment of Municipal Registrar Arlene Karp, and, after an executive session, a last-minute entry – submitted by Councilor Price Abrams – executing an agreement for an art installation at Crane Park.