Leaf Blower Poll - January 2010
- The City's Environmental Quality Affairs Committee (EQAC) has been studying noise and pollution
issues created in communities like Corona del Mar where homes are in close proximity to each
other. They have also been looking at what other cities have done to curb and/or control the noise
and pollution leaf blowers generate. (Click here to read the EQAC Report)
CdMRA conducted a poll of its members with email addresses.
Results
- 567 emails sent to CdMRA Members (77% of membership; 9% of all CdM households)
- 104 responses received (18% response rate; our highest ever recorded)
- 71% of respondents were from the Village; 21% from planned communities
- 55% want an outright ban; 85% want to either ban or limit emissions, days/hours, or decibels on residential usage
- 15% do not support any changes on residential usage
- 44% also wanted to limit commercial usage in some way; 43% did not answer that question
- An independent statistician reviewed the sampling and the results and confirmed there was a 95% confidence
level that these data were valid within a 7 point margin of error (meaning that as few as 77% and as many as 92%
of CdM residents would favor a more restrictive policy change.
Summary
- It appears that the village residents were more motivated to respond to our poll because they are more directly
impacted by the noise and pollution created by existing gas leaf blowers. Lot sizes are much smaller in the village,
and therefore the impacts of leaf blowers on neighboring properties seem to be more noticeable in this area. - A clear majority of respondents supported an outright ban for residential usage, and cited Laguna Beach as an
example. Additional controls were also cited by many, including limiting the days blowers can be used, more
restrictive hours of use, phasing in lower-emission units, limiting decibels emitted. - A desire was expressed to limit or control commercial usage, but not as clear a majority. Some expressed desire
to limit commercial usage if in close proximity to residential areas. Some felt that commercial controls should be
greater given the magnitude of the areas they covered, increasing the opportunities to minimize air and water
pollution.
Next Steps
EQAC forwarded their report to City Council and expects that a Study Session will be scheduled after the first of the year to
review this topic. CdMRA will present our poll results to EQAC and at the City Council Study Session. We will keep our
members informed as soon as these dates are scheduled.
We will continue to accept responses to the following poll through January 2010. If you have friends or neighbors who
living in 92625 and have not yet responded to this poll, please encourage them to do so.
- Should leaf blowers be controlled for noise and pollution emissions in Newport Beach? If so, how (outright
equipment ban, more stringent standards, more restricted hours of operation, permitting operation only on certain
days by neighborhood)? - Should commercial gardeners have different guidelines/restrictions than residential gardeners? **
tabulation purposes.
** For additional information and background on this topic, click here (or click here for a PDF version).
To view results from previous CdMRA polls and member comments, click here (or click here for a PDF version.
| Copyright 2010 Corona del Mar Residents Association. All Rights Reserved. No information may be duplicated without permission from Corona del Mar Residents Association. |
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| PO Box 1500 Corona del Mar, CA 92625 Info@cdmra.org |
| (C) Volunteers working to protect, preserve and improve our community's quality of life |
