It’s the Law: All Gas-Powered Leaf Blower and Lawn Mower Use Is Now Banned in Irvine

  • January 21, 2025, 11:11 am America/Los_Angeles

At the November 28, 2023 Irvine City Council meeting, the City Council passed Ordinance 23-25. This ordinance bans all gas-powered lawn equipment use in Irvine. However, the effective dates for this ordinance vary based on the business size and the type of lawn equipment. The effective dates are shown in the following chart.

As the chart shows, all gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn mower use are now banned in Irvine. In addition, large landscaping companies are now banned from using all other types of gas lawn equipment–string trimmers, hedge trimmers, chain saws, and edgers. A company that has 50 or more employees is considered a large company. Only about four landscaping companies that do business in Irvine fit the category of a large company.

Irvine residents and small businesses have one more year to transition all lawn care equipment to non-gas-powered equipment. However, as stated, gas-powered leaf blowers and mowers are now banned for use by Irvine residents, small landscaping companies, and large companies.

If someone in your area is still using gas leaf blowers or lawn mowers, you might directly contact the landscape company to make them aware of this Irvine ordinance. You might also contact the management company or HOA that is responsible for maintaining the area where you live. In addition, it would be useful to contact Irvine Public Works and the City Council Members with any problems that you see, so that they are aware of ordinance compliance issues.

Rebates

Some rebates are available to help residents and businesses transition from gas-powered lawn equipment to electric lawn equipment. For South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) rebates available to Irvine residents, see Residential Electric Lawn Equipment Rebate Program. For SCAMD rebates available to businesses, see Commercial Electric Lawn & Garden Equipment.

In addition, OCPA customers in Irvine have access to some discounted electric lawn equipment. See the OCPA Marketplace site for more information.

A Slow Implementation

MAVEL - Slow-motionSome versions of this ordinance have been slowly moving toward implementation since 2021. At the April 14, 2021 Irvine Green Ribbon Environmental Committee meeting, the committee directed Irvine Staff to come back with a proposal that would ban gas-powered lawn equipment use in Irvine. In addition to the ban proposal, the Green Ribbon Committee directed staff to look into using native landscaping* on City property. This was under the leadership of the then-committee chair, Farrah Khan, who also happened to be the mayor of Irvine at that time.

No Timely Delivery of Council and Green Committee Directives

At the December 14, 2021 city council meeting, the city council directed staff to work with a consultant to understand stakeholders’ concerns about banning gas-lawn equipment and then come back with a proposal for a ban. When Councilmember Agran asked for the staff’s timeline to bring this back to the Irvine City Council, Sona Coffee of Irvine Environmental Programs stated that, due to a small staff, she did not expect this to come back to the city council until summer 2022.

However, no plan for a gas-lawn equipment ban was received by the city council in 2022 and much of 2023. Also of note is that in the December 2021 staff presentation to the city council, staff did not include the Green Ribbon Committee directive to include information on using native plants for landscaping.

From the December 14, 2021 staff presentation to the City Council:

Gas-Lawn Equipment Ban Revived

In 2023, Councilmember Treseder revived the gas-powered lawn equipment ban proposal. At that time, the city council discussed the phased-in approach to implementing the ban (see above chart). Also discussed was providing extra help to small landscapers as well as making Irivne a one-stop center. The purpose of the one-stop center was to provide a centralized site to assist Irvine residents and businesses in purchasing non-gas-powered lawn equipment.

At the November 28, 2023 meeting, the city council did approve an ordinance to ban gas-powered lawn equipment with the phased-in implementation approach. However, the extra help given to small-scale landscapers was minimal. In addition, the one-stop access point was not included. The information that is available through the City of Irvine can be found on the City of Irvine website. As stated above, rebates are available; however, those seeking a rebate must bring the gas-powered lawn equipment to an approved recycler. The approved recycler that is closest to Irvine is in Santa Ana.  Note: The approval vote Irvine Ordinance 23-25 was 4-1. Agran, Khan, Kim, and Treseder voted Yes; Carroll voted No.

Slow Motion Implementation Continues?

At the November 20, 2024 Community Services Commission meeting, staff presented an update to the commission on the status of the gas-lawn equipment ban implementation. As shown by the chart above, 2024 was a year-long grace period for landscapers to transition away from gas-powered leaf blowers and mowers. January 1, 2025, is the date set in Ordinance 23-25 as the effective date on which all gas leaf blower and mower use in Irvine would be banned. However, when commissioners asked about the effective dates, staff said that they “wanted” and “wished” for landscapers to comply with the implementation dates. But they were not planning on enforcing the dates at this time.

Epilogue

The Question is Why? Why Question Mark - Why - Pin | TeePublicSome version of this ban has been in the works in Irvine since 2021. So, why has the follow-through on implementing a ban as voted on by the city council members been so slow to see implementation? Was it a lack of follow-through by Mayor Khan? Was it a lack of follow-through by Irvine staff under the leadership of City Manager Oliver Chi? Did a majority of previous city councils, as has been stated by an insider, direct staff to slow-walk environmental measures?

Most recently, did HOAs, management companies, and landscape companies receive adequate notice of Ordinance 23-25? If so, are these different entities taking the implementation dates seriously?

Hopefully, the current city council members will act as overseers to ensure staff does carry out this ban in a timely way going forward.

“Gas-powered leaf blowers create noise measured between 65 to 80 decibels. A person within 50 feet of that sound is prone to permanent hearing damage after two hours of exposure.

However, California isn’t banning gas-powered lawn equipment just because of the noise. According to the California Air Resources Board, using gas-powered lawn equipment for an hour causes the same level of pollution as driving between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The engines of gas-powered equipment leak known carcinogens and smog-forming chemicals. As a result, they can cause damage to not only the environment but also the landscaper using the equipment.”—GoMaterial

References

*Advantages of native plants in landscaping: California Native Plant Society