River Forest officials voted at the July 14 village board meeting to ban gas-powered leaf blowers but will phase in the action over a five-year period.
Officials voted unanimously to accept the recommendation from the Sustainability Commission to adopt a three-step, phased-in ban and to incentivize landscape companies to switch to electric leaf blowers with a rebate for a year-round commitment in years 2026 through 2029. Contractors making the commitment to electric leaf blowers would receive a reimbursement for their annual license fee of $125 and be listed on the sustainability section of the village website as a company committed to only using electric leaf blowers.
Under the phase-in, gas-powered leaf blowers will be banned from May 15 to September 15 in 2026 and 2027; will only be permitted in April, October and November in 2028 and 2029; and be banned year-round beginning in 2030.
In addition, fossil fuel-powered generators to operate and charge leaf blowers will be banned beginning in 2026.
In a memo to Village Administrator Matt Walsh, Seth Jansen, management analyst, said the commission has been considering and collecting feedback on a potential ordinance to address the use of gas-powered leaf blowers within the village “for the past several months.”
To obtain feedback from landscape contractors, mail and email notices were sent twice to those licensed with the village and several of those contractors presented their input at the June 2024 and September 2024 meetings of the commission. Residents were able to provide feedback specific to leaf blower usage via the community survey conducted in fall and winter of 2024 and 2025.
Jansen said the recommendation was based in part on feedback from officials in Oak Park, which adopted a full ban on gas-powered leaf blowers last month, and from a report of the North Suburban Multicommunity Leaf Blower Working Group made in 2022.
Although he eventually voted with the majority to adopt the phased-in ban, Trustee Bob O’Connell called the proposal “unsustainable for landscapers.”
He said the battery life for an electric leaf blower is 90 minutes and batteries cost $199 each.
“Where do they go when the battery runs out?” he asked.
Jansen acknowledged that battery life is “the biggest concern” of landscapers but noted that technology improvements over the next three to five years are expected to lengthen battery life.
O’Connell suggested that Jansen contact landscapers in Wilmette, which was part of the North Suburban working group and instituted a nine-month ban in 2023.
Trustee Erika Bachner agreed that additional feedback from landscapers should be obtained. She also suggested that landscapers could carry additional charged batteries on their trucks.
In response to her question, Jansen said staff members have shared information regarding the pending changes with the park district and college campuses as well as the village public works staff.
Trustee Katie Brennan also supported contacting landscapers, noting that many landscapers who work in River Forest also work in Oak Park and would be able to share their experience with the ban there.
Walsh noted that officials will be able to make changes to the action over the five-year period.
“We can always prolong each step if the technology is not improving as predicted,” he said.