CITY OF SAN MATEO
CITY OF SAN MATEO
Agenda Report
City Hall
330 W. 20th Avenue
San Mateo CA 94403
www.cityofsanmateo.org
Agenda Number: 17 Section Name: OLD BUSINESS Account Number: 10-1311 File ID: 25-10321 TO: City Council
FROM: Alex Khojikian, City Manager
PREPARED BY: City Manager's Office
MEETING DATE: October 6, 2025
SUBJECT:
Gas Leaf Blower Prohibition — Update
RECOMMENDATION:
Provide direction on how to update the leaf blower Ordinance to prohibit the use of gas leaf blowers.
BACKGROUND:
Gas leaf blower regulations can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address air quality impacts. Many cities in the Bay Area have adopted gas leaf blower bans including the City of Burlingame, Town of Hillsborough, City of Menlo Park, and City of Palo Alto. At the April 3, 2023 City Council meeting, City Council decided not to pursue leaf blower regulations, and instead Council directed staff to develop a more robust rebate program, enhance community outreach and engagement on existing regulations and encourage the use of electric leaf blowers, and lead by transitioning City operations to electric leaf blowers. That was the most recent direction to staff until the February 2025 City Council Blue Sky meeting, when staff was directed to “Develop and implement an ordinance to prohibit the use of gas leaf blowers within the City of San Mateo” in the upcoming Fiscal Year. This report provides an overview of the City’s current leaf blower regulations, an update on the City’s rebate program and outreach, and an update on City operations. Finally, this report outlines policy areas for City Council to provide feedback in order for staff to proceed with an Ordinance prohibiting gas leaf blower use and recommendations from the Sustainability and Infrastructure Commission.
STATE AND CITY LEAF BLOWER REGULATIONS
State Regulations (AB 1346)
Small Off-Road Engine (SORE) includes equipment such as leaf blowers and lawnmowers. These engines present concerns for air pollution, noise pollution, and climate change. AB 1346 requires new SORE Model Years 2024 and later to be zero emission. The state regulation does not impact older gas equipment that is already in use and older gas equipment can still be purchased.
City’s Current Regulations
San Mateo Municipal Code Chapter 10.80 “Operation of Leaf Blowers” (see Attachment 2) limits the use of leaf blowers to 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on weekdays and 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturdays. The use of leaf blowers is prohibited on Sundays and certain designated holidays. The hours of operation apply to residential zoning districts and in areas bordering residentially zoned neighborhoods. Uses of leaf blowers in residential zoning districts, or areas bordering residential zoning districts, also require the operator to use a blower nozzle extension and operate the leaf blower at a low speed to minimize noise. No more than one leaf blower may be operated at a residence at any time. Material blown by leaf blowers cannot be blown onto neighboring properties or onto the public right-of-way without being immediately removed. These restrictions have been in place since 1997.
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CITY’S ELECTRIC LEAF BLOWER REBATE PROGRAM
The City provides up to 75% of the purchase price up to a maximum of $500 to landscaping businesses and up to 50% purchase price and maximum of $100 for residents. At the time of writing this report, the City had issued 20 rebates to businesses and 97 rebates to residents since the program launched in 2021. The average residential rebate was $79.52 and the average business rebate was $399.94. The City spent an average of $3,142 per year on rebates. Historically, there has been ample budget to fund the rebate program. Since the City has not had a gas leaf blower prohibition in place, looking forward staff will closely monitor and evaluate the budget during the upcoming transition.
Per City Council’s direction in 2023, staff evaluated the City’s rebate program and staff did not increase the electric leaf blower rebate amount for a few reasons. Because state regulations require all new 2024 model year leaf blower equipment to be electric, the current rebate is not needed to incentivize the purchase of new electric equipment, as it is already required to be electric. Also, cost is not the only barrier for landscaping businesses to convert to the electric option. In staff’s 2023 outreach on the issue, landscaping businesses identified battery life and equipment performance as the leading barriers to using electric equipment. Note, a commercial landscaping business could potentially leverage multiple local rebates since other neighboring cities such as the City of Burlingame, City of Menlo Park, Town of Atherton, City of Redwood City and Town of Hillsborough also have electric leaf blower rebate programs.
INCREASED COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND OUTREACH
Staff has focused on increased engagement and marketing of the electric leaf blower rebate program which has helped increase rebate uptake. The rebate program participation was a record high of 46 rebates in 2024 compared to previous years with an average of 23 rebates per year. Staff routinely sends paper mailers to the roughly 100 landscaping and gardening businesses with San Mateo business licenses. To broaden engagement, staff reached out to Home Depot and the Workers Resource Center. Staff also promoted rebates through the City’s e-newsletter, City’s social media channels and Recology bill insert. Staff’s recent outreach highlighted both the upcoming gas leaf blower prohibition ordinance as well as the City’s electric leaf blower rebate program. Continued outreach will be a key part of the transition after an ordinance is in place.
CITY OPERATIONS
Parks and Public Works staff and City contractors use leaf blower equipment to remove debris throughout the City. Parks staff rely on leaf blowers almost daily as a primary source to remove debris from pathways and parking lots. Public Works staff primarily use blowers during weed abatement and leaf season. In 2024, staff identified Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) Member Agency Grant funding to fund the purchase of 23 electric leaf blowers, 92 batteries and 16 battery chargers for Parks operations. The Parks equipment was delivered in August 2025 and Parks staff began using electric equipment citywide in September 2025. Public Works staff use five electric backpack blowers and two electric handheld blowers. Staff are currently working with the City’s various contractors to transition to electric leaf blower equipment.
In 2023, Parks Division evaluated their operations equipment to determine a feasible starting point and transition plan to convert to electric operated tools. An electrical upgrade was completed at the Park Yard for equipment charging. Also in 2023, Parks staff acquired a large area sweeper called a Multihog Compact Sweeper, thereby reducing the need for as much backpack blower cleanup work of parking lots and some pathways. The Multihog Compact Sweepers saves an estimated 14 hours of labor per week.
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS NEEDED
To update the City’s existing leaf blower regulations, staff seek City Council feedback in the following areas:
Hours of Operation - Residential zoned areas vs. Citywide The City’s currently adopted leaf blower regulations and the hours of operation limitations only apply to residential zoning districts and in areas bordering residentially zoned neighborhoods. There are residences in Transit Oriented Development (TOD) zones and in Downtown, where the City’s current leaf blower regulations hours of operation do not apply. The City could consider applying leaf blower hours of operation citywide.
There is a lot of variation in how cities apply the hours of operations. The City of Menlo Park’s hours of operation apply
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citywide (Monday-Friday 8:00 am – 6:00 pm) and permits residents/property owners to use leaf blowers (Saturday, Sundays, and holidays 9:00 am – 5:00 pm). The City of Palo Alto has different hours of operation with residential zones having narrower hours of operation (Monday-Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Saturday 10:00 am - 4:00 pm) than non-residential zones (Monday-Friday 8:00 am - 6:00 pm, Saturday 10:00 am - 4:00 pm).
If the City were to expand regulations to apply citywide, this would likely have an impact on commercial businesses and City operations where leaf blowers are used to clear debris from parking lots early in the morning. For example, the City uses a contractor to maintain Downtown garages that use leaf blowers before 7:00 am, an optimal time to avoid conflict with cars. The same is true of existing commercial and office properties, some of which are near locations which may be suitable for housing now or in the future even if they are not currently developed with housing.
Staff seeks City Council feedback on how to proceed with revising the ordinance and whether to apply the hours of operation citywide or to continue with the existing approach where hours of operation apply to residentially zoned neighborhoods and in areas bordering residentially zoned neighborhoods.
Enforcement phasing
Staff reached out to cities with gas leaf blower bans and received feedback that ordinance enforcement is the primary challenge with leaf blower regulations. Unlike other code violations (e.g., inoperable vehicles, overgrown vegetation), the use of a leaf blower is fleeting in nature. Furthermore, the Code Enforcement Officer must personally observe the Municipal Code violation in order to enforce it. If staff is unable to witness the code violation, staff can use this opportunity to provide a courtesy letter with information about the new regulation.
It is best practice for local jurisdictions to adopt an Ordinance and delay the Ordinance enforcement date to allow community members and landscaping businesses to transition to compliant electric leaf blower equipment. The City of Burlingame began enforcement 9 months after Ordinance adoption and the City of Menlo Park began enforcement 12 months after Ordinance adoption. Staff recommends beginning enforcement of the Ordinance a minimum of 9 months after the Ordinance adoption date to allow for sufficient transition time. During this transition time, staff would conduct broad communitywide outreach about the new gas leaf blower prohibition. Staff seeks a recommendation from City Council on the Ordinance enforcement date.
Assignment of Penalties
San Mateo Municipal Code Chapter 1.10 Administrative Citations describes procedures that the City may pursue to address code violations through the issuance of administrative citations. The typical process includes the issuance of a warning prior to a citation. Citations begin at $100 and escalate to $200, and $500 per occurrence if not corrected. Other cities also rely on their administrative citations for their gas leaf blower Ordinance enforcement.
Other cities with gas leaf blower prohibitions include the option to enforce penalties against the owners of the property or any other responsible party who uses gas leaf blowers or have hired, employed, or engaged the services of a person or business utilizing gas leaf blowers. This way staff has multiple options to enforce penalties against other responsible parties beyond the leaf blower operators. Staff seeks City Council feedback on this approach to administering penalties for violations.
Sustainability and Infrastructure Commission Policy Recommendation At the September 10, 2025 Sustainability and Infrastructure Commission meeting, staff presented a similar report and asked for the Commission to make recommendations on the three policy areas described above. The Commission recommended 1) hours of operation apply to residentially zoned areas and areas adjacent to residential zones, 2) enforcement of the Ordinance to begin nine months after Ordinance adoption, and 3) penalties should be assigned to the homeowner or property owner, with the option to assign penalties to the leaf blower operator or any other responsible party, especially in situations when there is a commercial operator. In their discussion about the hours of operation, commissioners noted that allowing leaf blower activity in commercial areas outside of typical business hours is important because it is a safety issue, and helps keep landscapers safe by reducing risk and conflict with vehicles. Commissioners also
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pointed out that one of the tradeoffs of living in a vibrant and active Downtown or mixed-use area is embracing a higher level of noise. Commissioners were supportive of beginning enforcement nine months after Ordinance adoption and emphasized the need for strong messaging and education prior to the enforcement date.
REQUESTED CITY COUNCIL DIRECTION
Staff requests City Council direction on the following:
1. Should the Ordinance apply electric leaf blower hours of operation to residential zones and areas adjacent to residential zones only, or expand the application of electric leaf blower hours of operation citywide?
2. Should enforcement of the Ordinance begin 9 months, 12 months, or at a different time after Ordinance adoption?
3. Should the Ordinance include the option to enforce penalties against the property owners and/or any other responsible party who uses gas leaf blower or have hired, employed, or engaged the services of a person or business utilizing gas leaf blowers?
4. Does the City Council have other recommendations for the Ordinance prohibiting gas leaf blower use?
NEXT STEPS
Staff will incorporate City Council’s direction for the update of an Ordinance prohibiting gas leaf blower use. Staff anticipates Ordinance adoption in early 2026. Ordinance enforcement phasing will depend on City Council direction and timing.
BUDGET IMPACT:
The implementation and enforcement of this Ordinance would be integrated into the City’s existing code enforcement procedures. If City staff were directed to provide enhanced enforcement, this would require an assessment and allocation of staffing resources. On average, the City has issued 23 electric leaf blower rebates and amounting to an average of $3,142 per year, supported by the City’s Sustainability Program budget. Staff anticipate budgeting $10,000 per year for electric leaf blower equipment and battery replacement in future budget cycles.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION:
This Council action in receiving an informational update and providing feedback for the development of an Ordinance prohibiting gas leaf blowers and additional leaf blower regulations is not a “project” subject to CEQA review, in that it consists of the planning for possible future actions which the City has not approved, adopted, or funded. (CEQA Guidelines Section 15262.)
NOTICE PROVIDED
All meeting noticing requirements were met. The City sent a mailer to landscaping businesses with a City of San Mateo business license to alert them of the September 10, 2025 Sustainability and Infrastructure Commission meeting, this October 6, 2025 City Council discussion, and the City’s Electric Leaf Blower Rebate Program.
ATTACHMENTS
Att 1 – Public Comment
Att 2 – San Mateo Municipal Code Chapter 10.80 "Operation of Leaf Blowers"
STAFF CONTACT
Andrea Chow, Sustainability Analyst
[email protected]
(650) 522-7007