This year — the first year of the complete gas-powered leaf blower ban — the town received more complaints than ever before through its online reporting system, according to Health Department Director Wes Chen.
In total, residents submitted 243 complaints in 2026, he said, explaining to the Select Board Monday night that those complaints trigger a letter to the property owner.
“We’ve tabulated the data and discovered 89% of addresses that have received the letter, they’re pretty good about speaking to their landscapers and asking them not to use gas-powered leaf blowers on their properties,” Chen said. “There are still 11% that are pretty stubborn.”
In particular, six landscaping companies have a number of violations at various addresses in town.
“Town Meeting voted for this bylaw overwhelmingly,” said Select Board Chair Taylor Yates. “It is incumbent on the Select Board to see it’s carried out. That’s our job as the executive.”
Following a conversation with board members at a recent Select Board meeting, Yates and Town Administrator Patrice Garvin are reaching out to the repeat offenders to talk about the bylaw and their violations.
The leaf blower bylaw, which was written to include multiple stages, went into effect in February 2023, bringing Belmont into alignment with several other towns in the state. At that point, restrictions limited the use of combustion-powered (gas-powered) leaf blowers at certain times of the year and certain times of the day.
On Jan. 1, 2026, combustion-powered leaf blowers became completely prohibited in town. While electric leaf blowers are allowed, there are limits on how many can be used at one time on a property.
For a first offense, a warning letter is mailed to the property owner. Second offenses carry a $100 fine to the property owner; third offenses and each additional offense carry a $300 fine.
In May, Town Meeting voted to lower the threshold for the Select Board to remove a name from a publicly available list of providers who have committed to comply with the bylaw. A service provider removed from the list may reapply for inclusion after three months have elapsed since its removal.
“My concern longterm is if we don’t enforce this or make it follow up it basically becomes unenforceable,” said Select Board member Matt Taylor. “Other towns that have bans — Lexington is an example — usually take a more enforcing approach with this rather than an educational approach. I’d rather make an educational approach work.”
Taylor said there has already been a lot of communication with business owners about the bylaw, “so it’s not for a lack of awareness.”
“The companies that are not complying are using it as an unfair advantage that will drive the complying business out of town,” he said. “I think Belmont needs to be more business-friendly than that.”
In an interview with The Voice, Taylor said the removal of companies from the list — which hasn’t happened yet — would take place during an open meeting, as it is a decision to be made by the Select Board. Before it reaches that stage, however, the plan is for the companies with several complaints against them to meet with Yates to “understand what’s going on.”
The goal is education over enforcement, he said, because the town isn’t trying to criminalize people doing their jobs, but rather help residents pick companies that use electric leaf blowers.
“Prior to this year, companies were still using gas-powered leaf blowers … but there are a lot of companies that are complying and most property owners are complying,” Taylor said. “So it seems to be generally working — if we can just reach what appears to be a somewhat limited number of companies that are an overwhelming majority of the complaints.”