Craig Russell sworn in and voters will decide next year on gas leaf blower ban
The newest commissioner took his seat just as one of the city’s most controversial issues came up for a vote
April 25, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Voters will decide next year whether Winter Park will keep its ban on gas-powered leaf blowers after two tense and divided votes Wednesday that included new Commissioner Craig Russell for the first time.
The debate highlighted the power of the mayor’s role on the board — steering the debate and casting the final vote — with new Mayor Sheila DeCiccio twice breaking a 2-2 tie.
She ultimately sided with allowing voters to have a say about the ban on the March 2025 ballot, when the seats belonging to commissioners Todd Weaver and Kris Cruzada will also be up for election.
Russell and Cruzada cast votes in favor of the referendum while Weaver and Sullivan voted against it.
“At the end of the day, there was such division,” DeCiccio said after the meeting. “After listening to residents on both sides, the voters have to make this decision. Nobody wanted the referendum … the landscapers didn’t want it, but this way — one way or the other — it’s decided.”
Just before the vote, Russell attempted to table the matter and order city staff to draw up a new ordinance that would repeal the ban on gas-powered leaf blowers that the City Commission passed unanimously in 2022.
“I’m not going to tell a police officer what kind of gun to buy or a firefighter what kind of hose to buy,” Russell said, noting that he saw it as “obvious” that residents do not want the ban.
Frank Hamner, the attorney for the Holler family, which were among Russell’s biggest campaign donors, watched the meeting closely from the audience and stood up twice to speak in support of motions Russell attempted to make.
“How many man hours have you wasted on this thing?” Hamner, who until last week wasn’t a regular attendee at commission meetings, asked the board about the leaf blower discussion. “If you can’t, as a government, accept oversight or criticism you’re in the wrong business.”
Russell’s motion lost in a 3-2 vote with only Cruzada supporting his effort.
Weaver, who earlier in the meeting was elected as the new vice mayor and was on the commission when the ban was first passed in 2022, explained that the rule came about because of noise, health and safety concerns.
Leaf blowers, like many gas-powered machines, emit known carcinogens. They are also the loudest lawn equipment used on a daily basis.
“They aren’t ‘suspected’ to be cancer-causing, they are cancer-causing,” Weaver said, showing slides from several national studies.
The city’s ban was set to take effect in June, 30 months after it was originally passed, to give landscape companies and residents time to transition to electric models.
But in January the landscape companies organized and complained that they hadn’t had enough time and that the transition was too expensive and detrimental to their small businesses.
“I understand these electric leaf blowers are going to have to be purchased,” Weaver said. “But I don’t think it’s at all fair for the rest of us to subsidize extremely expensive health care when there’s something we can do about it.”
Sen. Jason Brodeur, who represents Winter Park, but calls Seminole County home, seized on the issue as an example of local government overreach even though a number of Florida cities already have similar bans.
Brodeur took up the landscape companies’ cause and threatened to pass a state law to prohibit such a ban if Winter Park did not place the issue on next year’s ballot for voters to decide, according to City Manager Randy Knight, who negotiated the arrangement with him.
Despite that agreement Brodeur inserted language into the state budget, which still hasn’t been signed by the governor, that prohibits cities from enacting or amending gas-powered leaf blower ordinances until next year after the results of a $100,000 study he ordered.
Weaver said he objected to state dollars going toward a study that he considered redundant after a number of other studies have already been done on the topic.
Cruzada defended the new study saying new data is needed. He also noted that the commission’s ordinance came about near the height of the pandemic when more people were working from home and complaining of the constant noise from leaf blowers and suggested those complaints have mostly passed.
Voters will now get to settle the debate on the March 11, 2025 ballot.
Moments after the leaf blower discussion, Russell asserted his new influence once again during the hearing of an ordinance to clean up language regarding how mixed-uses are defined within the Orange Avenue Overlay.
He pointed out where the word “commercial” was stricken and said, “I just think it’s a mistake,” because the word commercial was repeated again later.
Hamner took the microphone for a second time to support Russell’s comment.
“I fear if you take ‘commercial’ out where it’s stricken, it’s going to lack clarity going forward,” he said.
The planning director and DeCiccio explained that the change was to add more specific language about how “commercial” is defined so that developers understand what “mixed-use” means.
When the McCraney building was up for debate a few months ago it was the first new development to be approved under the new Orange Avenue Overlay rules and there was discussion about whether two different types of offices could constitute “mixed-use,” such as a bank without tellers and a real estate office.
Russell then moved to amend the language with a suggestion from the planning director to add even more specificity, which was approved by the rest of the commission.
Earlier in the meeting he officially took the oath of office with his family by his side after winning the run-off against Jason Johnson by 34 votes.
“I’m just so proud to get to meet and work with so many talented people,” he said at the end of the meeting, noting that he would like to create a youth advisory board or find other ways to incorporate new voices into city government. ” On the record, I have to thank my family — the army I have, my kids and my wife — I wouldn’t be here without them.”
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
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By: Beth Kassab
No biography available at this time
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Very disappointed that the health concerns regarding the leaf blowers were blown under the carpet by two of the commissioners. And one of them wanted to do away with any regulation or the vote of the citizens. Sounds like the Chamber has won this round with their attorney by their side.
First world problems. Don’t think your health issues are due to gas leaf blowers. Would be nice if we can take steps toward reducing noise and fumes but in a privileged town like WP are we really surprised that folks are rejecting inconvenience.
What a massive failure by the former Mayor and his allies on the Commission.
First, if this is a massive health issue, then why wait on the ban? Weaver framed this as a health issue, and a dire one, and he presented evidence buttressing his argument that no one refuted.
Second, we would defer to a tobacco company if they said they needed more time to comply with a ban on their product? If the landscape companies are responsible for these awful products, then why defer? And is Weaver going to lead a lawsuit against these companies to, as he put it, get reimbursement for health issues relating to leaf blowers?
Third, hopefully this is the last time Mayor DeCiccio waffles on an issue. Senator Brodeur has zero business telling the Winter Park City Commission what to do. Residents can complain and they have every right to express those beliefs at the ballot box, but it would have been great if Anderson and DeCiccio had the courage of their convictions and stayed united with the other Commissioners we elected to enact policy for Winter Park.
So now we have no ban, and we will have a year of divisiveness about an issue that should have been settled years ago. What a failure of leadership all around.
Leaf blowers and clean air do not belong in the same sentence. Leaf blowers produce toxic air—airborne sewage. And we pay small businesses to bring it up close and personal—right to our doorstep—every day. Perhaps the commissioners voting to extend this practice should spend 15 minutes in a closed room w a leaf blower going full bore (and no ear plugs) and then try going for a walk/jog. How will that feel?
A 5-0 vote by the previous commission based on easily accessed noise, safety and health data, should have put the abuse of gas-powered leaf blowers to bed. The previous commission gave lawn services 2.5 years to make the transition, and another 6 months before implementing fines. A few landscapers whined to an ill-informed state senator and here we are.
One Commissioner Krusada used the age of the EPA study (2011) cited as reasoning for a new study being needed. Did he think that gasoline and unregulated piston engines have improved in 13 years? Would a slightly less cancer risk be acceptable? Can mufflers be the ticket?
New Commissioner Russell said he wasn’t going to tell the police what kind of gun they can use as a parallel. Last time we checked, a policeman’s pistol doesn’t cause cancer, or another person’s hearing loss or go on roaring for a half hour waking the living 3 houses away.
These 2 are real disappointments.
According to an APNews article, here is the following information about gas powered leaf blowers:
Gas-powered leaf blowers also expel fumes and pollutants like carbon monoxide. Both gas and electric blowers stir up particulate matter, dust, mold, pollen, and pathogen-containing bird and animal feces into the air that we (and insects and wildlife) breathe. Folks with respiratory issues or allergies may be especially sensitive.
Both types also blow away mulch, contribute to soil erosion and disrupt delicate ecosystems. The soil depletion makes plants more vulnerable to disease and infestations, which could lead to higher pesticide usage.
The machines’ forceful blasts – which travel up to 200 mph, can displace, injure and kill pollinators and other insects. Birds, too, can become startled into changing their feeding, nesting and mating habits.
I would love for ALL leaf blowers to be banned. Bring back rakes and brooms. But of course that would really rile up the masses here in WP for their love of pristine lawns is never ending. It’s nonsense that leaves are being blown from one side of the road or yard to the other.
WP is a place of sustainability and I applaud their efforts to ban this noisy, polluting and all round nuisance.
Does the solution regarding the leaf blowers have to be binary? Is some level of compromise a possibility between residents, commissioners and landscaping companies before March 2025? And yes, I know the issue has been voted on previously. That said, technically, the more data the better the decision if you can avoid analysis paralysis during the process.
Yes, it has to be binary. Up/down. Yes/No. This commission has had opportunities to avoid an expensive, divisive vote and act maturely. They refused. Some times they need a wake-up call.
What does it say when some fear allowing ourselves to decide an issue with our own votes in an already scheduled election? Does it mean something when some would prefer to be told what we must do by five minor elected officials whom we may or may not have voted for? Do we trust them more than we trust ourselves? Is it time to do away with all local voter referendums? Why? Why not?