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Strength tiers

We summarize every municipality's leaf-blower law as a single named tier, derived from two facts in the database: what the law does (status) and how it does it (regulation basis).

The matrix

Rows are the law's status. Columns are how the law is structured. Each cell names the tier and shows how many places we currently track in New York and its 5 neighboring states. Click a cell to jump to the corresponding section of the tracker.

Equipment-specificFuel sourceGeneric dB capHours onlyNo basis
Full Year-Round Ban Total prohibition 0 Year-round gas ban 18 Arlington, Belmont, Brookline… ———
Partial or Part-Year Ban Equipment dB cap 7 Ardsley, Bronxville, New Rochelle… Part-year gas ban 50 Greenwich, Norwalk, Westport… Generic dB cap 4 Eastchester, Harrison, Hempstead… Hours only 6 West Tisbury, Greenburgh, Orangetown… —
No Ban Equipment dB cap 0 No rule 0 Generic dB cap 0 Hours only 1 Lewisboro No rule 8 Rockport, Stoneham, Wellesley…
Adopted — Not Yet in Effect Adopted (not yet in effect) 8 Stamford, Acton, Chilmark… — decided; effective date still ahead
Government Fleet Only Government fleet ban only 0 — regulation basis irrelevant
Local Interest In play (residents organizing) 2 Hillsborough Township, Bethlehem — regulation basis irrelevant

Strongest → weakest

If you just want the ladder, here it is.

  1. Total prohibition 0 places

    Every leaf blower — gas and electric — banned year-round. Strongest possible rule.

  2. Year-round gas ban 18 places

    Gas-powered blowers prohibited year-round; electric is unaffected.

  3. Part-year gas ban 50 places

    Gas blowers off during quieter parts of the year, typically late spring through early fall.

  4. Government fleet only 0 places

    Municipal crews must run electric. Private and contractor use unaffected.

  5. Equipment dB cap 7 places

    Leaf blowers named in the ordinance with a decibel threshold; fuel-source neutral.

  6. Generic dB cap 4 places

    Property-line noise cap that constrains gas blowers in practice, but the ordinance does not name them.

  7. Hours only 40 places

    Hours-of-operation rules with no equipment-specific limit.

  8. In play 10 places

    Residents organizing for a ban (e.g., an active petition); the municipality has not yet engaged.

  9. No rule 9 places

    No ordinance text constrains leaf-blower use.

How we read the law

Two database fields drive every tier:

Status
What the law accomplishes. Five values shown publicly: full ban, partial / part-year ban, government fleet only, local interest, no ban. "Local interest" means residents are organizing (e.g., an active change.org petition) but the municipality has not engaged yet.
Regulation basis
The mechanism the ordinance uses.
  • Equipment-specific: Ordinance names leaf blowers and sets a quantitative threshold; fuel-source neutral.
  • Fuel source: Ordinance distinguishes gas/diesel from electric/battery.
  • Generic dB cap: Generic property-line decibel cap, low enough to constrain gas blowers in practice.
  • Hours only: Hours-of-operation rule; no equipment-specific quantitative limit.
  • No basis: No relevant ordinance text.

A few cells in the matrix are empty by construction — a full ban can't be a "decibel cap" because the ban itself, not the noise level, is what does the work. Those cells render as —.