Less Noise, Less Pollution – A Better Quality of Life for Naples
This article text was originally featured in Old Naples Living, February 2021.
Perhaps nothing defines Naples more than our beautiful tree-lined streets and landscaped homes. We all have experienced comments from friends and family visiting Naples about the quality and charm of our neighborhoods.
While some of us enjoy working in the garden or yard, most of us also employ landscape service companies. Beginning every Monday morning through Friday afternoon, they travel the streets of Naples, servicing our homes and condominium properties. We depend on these companies to keep our yards and landscaping at the high standard we have come to expect.
There has long been a major downside, however, to this otherwise happy marriage of homeowners and landscape companies. It has required the use of two-stroke engine, gasoline powered leaf blowers (long the prevailing technology) that are extremely noisy and generate significant amounts of pollution.
I grew up and spent most of my life in Pennsylvania, where we had plenty of grass, trees and leaves. In those days, the principal tool to keep homes properly maintained was the simple garden rake.
Increasingly, however, this job has been turned over to landscape companies, whose business model requires “blow and go” methods facilitated by leaf blowers. Residents who maintain their own properties often rely on leaf blowers as well.
What results is a noise problem of no little dimension. We all have found it annoying and worse to be assaulted with this noise, whether from our own property or a neighboring one. Sometimes it gets so loud, it is difficult even to hear the jet aircraft flying overhead!
Starting several years ago, some concerned citizens decided to do something about this problem. Old Naples Association began to study this issue, led by Jim Streicher, head of ONA’s Neighborhood Committee. What they found was that this was a growing issue across America, and that citizens were increasingly asking for reasonable regulations to control the noise.
They also discovered that new technologies were transforming the kind of equipment that was available to blow leaves. New battery powered leaf blowers operated at a lower decibel level and could make a huge difference in ambient noise levels if deployed across Naples, with a reduction in pollution as well.
Jim Streicher and ONA persisted over a two-year period in making the case for change with City Council and city staff. With a major turnover in Council as a result of elections held in 2019 and 2020, interest grew in taking action. In November 2020, Council passed an ordinance that banned gasoline powered leaf blowers and limited eligible blowers to a maximum decibel level of 65.
Recognizing that this would have a financial impact on landscape service providers who now had to acquire new equipment, Council also provided for a one-year phase-in period to meet these new requirements.
To their credit, some companies are choosing to move ahead in an even more expeditious manner. One is Earthcare Landscape Services, a business that has been owned by the McGuiness family and in operation here for nearly 30 years (full disclosure: EarthCare services my home in Old Naples). According to Kris McGuiness, it made sense to invest now in new equipment in anticipation of the new requirements. Much of their work is in the City of Naples and they want their work to be compatible with community standards and goals.
Earthcare has acquired four battery powered 61 decibel leaf blowers and charging stations that are being used on two of their trucks serving the City of Naples. This will give the company the opportunity to test the new equipment, see how well it operates, and determine what adjustments if any are needed.
Already, feedback is available. Crew members say the new leaf blowers are much heavier to hold, presenting a problem when servicing larger properties. Earthcare continues to research best available technology and other ways to support their crews, such as use of backpacks to hold the equipment. Over time, they will purchase additional blowers and chargers so that they will be in position to properly service all their Naples customers by this November in a manner required by the new city ordinance.
I view the Naples “leaf blower saga” as a wonderful success story. A community problem is identified, a solution is brought forward, and our City Council and staff are responsive to make the needed changes. Kudos to ONA and Jim Streicher for their efforts and to our Community Services Department for working cooperatively with them to design the needed ordinance.
And hats off to companies like Earthcare Landscape Services who are embracing these new requirements, recognizing that it is what their customers want and that it will materially improve the quality of life in our town. I am sure that many other landscape companies already are or soon will be making similar investments in new equipment.
By next season, we should all begin to benefit from improved air quality and appreciate a meaningful reduction in leaf blower noise in our neighborhoods. Pretty soon, we may even again be able to hear clearly the jet aircraft taking off at our airport!