News

By Dan Moffett

    Controversial brainstorms that hatch in Palm Beach have a way of drifting south to Manalapan.
    So when the Palm Beach Town Council moved to consider leaf blower legislation recently, it wasn’t surprising that before long the idea would come up in Manalapan.
    At the Jan. 24 town meeting, Mayor David Cheifetz raised the issue on behalf of resident Jack Staub, who complained about blowers’ many annoyances and said the town should discuss outlawing use of a signature device of modern landscaping.
    “Nobody likes leaf blowers,” Cheifetz said. “They’re noisy and they don’t do anything. But if we ban them, there has to be some increase in what folks pay to get their lawns done.”
    Commissioner Simone Bonutti said her 2-acre lot is too big to “have somebody come out with a broom and dust bin” instead of a leaf blower.
    Police Chief Carmen Mattox told the commission his department has never had a complaint about them — except once when a contractor tried to blow out the Plaza del Mar parking lot at 5:30 a.m. and was quickly stopped by officers.
    “The Police Department is going to enforce this, right?” Mattox asked the commission. “I don’t think my group is looking forward to that.”
    Last year, commissioners passed a noise ordinance that limits sound to 65 decibels between 8 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
    Vice Mayor Peter Isaac and Mayor Pro Tem Chauncey Johnstone agreed that landscapers should be advised to use modern, muffled blowers that conform to that standard.
    “When I was brought up, you used a rake,” Johnstone said.
    Instead of banning blowers, Commissioner Keith Waters suggested a more measured step, closing a loophole in the town’s code by banning landscaping work on Sundays. The commission agreed and decided — you might say — to “leaf” blowers alone.