The sponsors of two planned May Town Meeting articles that touched on hot-button issues have decided to pull them from consideration with an eye toward bringing them forward at a later date.
A group of residents has dropped its plan to pursue a seasonal ban on gas-powered leaf blowers, and the Quiet Zone Working Group has decided to wait until the fall to request construction funds for the long-planned safety upgrades needed to eliminate the mandatory sounding of train horns in town.
David Rudolph, who initiated the citizens’ petition on leaf blowers, said his group received too much opposition from landscapers during a Zoom forum on March 5. The proposal would have banned the use of gas-powered leaf blowers from May 15 to Sept. 30, starting in 2026, and applied to commercial landscapers, residents and property managers.
“There were a lot of [landscapers] saying this is going to destroy their business,” Rudolph said. “They can’t just change everything all at once. It’s going to be much too expensive for them.”
The 35-person coalition, most of whom are Needham residents, has instead decided to pivot toward educating the community about the environmental and noise impacts of gas-powered leaf blowers.
“I had good conversations with several of the landscapers on the forum … and they said they were willing to try electric equipment, so that’s No. 1,” Rudolph said. “Not under any mandate, but just testing it out to see how it goes.”
The group plans to educate landscapers about alternatives that are quieter and better for the environment, Rudolph said. His suggestions include mulching and composting leaves in flower beds rather than blowing them all off the property, and using gas blowers on a lower-power setting.
The coalition also hopes to launch a consumer education campaign through the volunteer organization Green Needham, which would work with landscapers experimenting with electric equipment and distribute their names so residents can hire them, Rudolph said.
The coalition is working with an electric leaf blower seller who may hold a field day in May, where landscapers can test out electric equipment, Rudolph said.
Speaking of noise reduction …
The working draft of the Town Meeting warrant contained an article that would have sought $3.5 million “for the purpose of quiet zone construction, including all costs incidental or related thereto.”
However, the Quiet Zone Working Group had difficulty engaging a consulting engineering firm to lead the effort of assessing the cost of installing the required supplemental safety measures at the town’s five at-grade crossings (Oak Street, Great Plain Avenue, May Street, Rosemary Street, and West Street) that would meet the standards required to establish a Quiet Zone for Needham.
This delayed the start of the group’s work and left it with an incomplete plan, despite having held multiple meetings with the MBTA and other stakeholders. The group made a final attempt at its March 26 meeting to settle on a cost estimate. The six members and its engineering consultants from Tighe & Bond discussed options that indicated the cost could range from $3.5 million to $5 million, but came to the conclusion that there were still too many unanswered questions to produce a reliable number.
“We simply couldn’t go before FinCom without a final number,” said Marianne Cooley, the Select Board’s appointee to the working group, which voted unanimously to pull the article.
Both Cooley and Town Manager Kate Fitzpatrick, who is also a member of the group, expressed some optimism that the delay until Fall Town Meeting will not necessarily slow the project, assuming Town Meeting approves the eventual funding request.
“We have the bonding capacity if that’s what the town wants to do,” Fitzpatrick said at the meeting. “It’s not a matter of having to find the money.”
Cooley explained that the QZWG can continue its work and can use funds approved at Annual Town Meeting in 2024 to complete the design work pretty much on schedule while also producing a more reliable cost estimate.
Cooley hopes to be able to bring a fully baked warrant article to Special Town Meeting in October.
“Design will be done this summer,” she said prior to the April 1 Select Board meeting. “That will inform a cost estimate and we’ll be ready to go to Town Meeting in the fall.”
This story is part of a partnership between the Needham Observer and the Boston University Department of Journalism. Peter O’Neil also contributed to this report.