Phaseout of Gas Leaf Blowers Set to Begin This Fall on Martha’s Vineyard

As the remaining weeks of summer wane on Martha's Vineyard, a new bylaw change by the state's attorney general could make for a more silent autumn across the Island.

After several heated town meetings across the Vineyard last spring about a proposed phaseout of gas leaf blowers, Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell signed off on bylaw changes regarding leaf blowers for Chilmark, Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, and West Tisbury. 

Tisbury town clerk Hillary Conklin said the town will receive the final version of the bylaw during the beginning of October from the attorney general's office. Aquinnah did not have the leaf blower proposal as a topic on any upcoming meeting agenda, but town officials said they are open to discussing it.

While the full ban of gas leaf blowers won't fully take effect until June 2028, several restrictions for towns with state-approved bylaws will begin this autumn. These provisions include limiting the days and hours when leaf blowers can be used and allowing only two gas leaf blowers to be used at the same time on a property. 

Additionally, combustion leaf blowers will only be permitted seasonally, March 15 through May 31 and Oct. 15 through Jan. 15.

According to a Martha's Vineyard Times report, electric leaf blowers will also be subject to use limitations. Only those that produce noise up to 65 decibels, which Yale Environmental Health and Safety states is approximately the volume of a “normal conversation,” will be permitted.