Two items related to lawn care are up for discussion at tonight's Township Committee meeting - leaf blower noise and pesticides.Township Committee Member Greg Lembrich asked that both be discussed at tonight's meeting after residents raised the issues with him and other committee members.
"We thought it would be useful to bring these up and give the public a chance to say something and receive some ideas and ask questions," Lembrich said.
The leaf blower concern stems from the current limitations that limit the use of such commercial machinery to 65 decibels.
"There's a concern about the sheer volume and whether or not this is being enforced and how loud the leaf blowers are," Lembrich said. "The issue we are hearing from some people is that it is the number of leaf blowers going at a given time and that can make it sort of deafening. Sometimes you have the same company doing a number of houses on one street."
Lembrich said the problem is not the individual homeowner, it is when a contractor services several homes at once with large, professional blowers. A limit of some kind could be put in place.
He also wants to discuss banning some pesticides used on lawns, similar to what has been down in other locations such as Montgomery County, Md.
"Any sort of pesticides on the lawn," he added. "There have been similar ordinances passed in other states, other communities in the Northeast. Can we take a leadership role and do something ourselves?"
Tonight's meeting is set or 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall. See the agenda HERE.
