A landscaping firm owner remarked that the requests presented to court by two Vancouver-based city councilors were impetuous and could cost a lot of money.
In the requests, the councilors are proposing that two-stroke gas-powered engines, like hedge trimmers and leaf blowers, be prohibited.
If any one of the proposals is approved- though they are yet to be discussed at a council meeting- Vancouver landscapers would be forced to switch to electric equipment to be able to continue running their businesses.
In an interview with CTV News, the founder of Lawn Care Plus, Kyler Reid, stated that the electric alternatives aren’t a feasible solution because they’re not durable. More so, these electric power tools are pricey and require a constant change of batteries.
The two motions by councilors, Sarah Kirby-Yung and Adriane Carr, will be presented separately in a council meeting that will be held next week.
Although the intricate details of each motion differ, they both cite noise pollution and adverse environmental impacts as the key reasons for proposing the ban.
Reid doesn’t dispute the fact that these machines generate a lot of noise. But even then, he recommends that landscapers be provided with a feasible alternative first before effecting such a ban.
According to Reid, the additional fees that would have to be passed onto their clientele, would in turn, cause strata fees to spike.
On the brighter side, the two requests propose that the ban be implemented gradually in the next couple of years. This would provide ample time for staff to evaluate the ideas and to determine whether any advancements can be made with regard to electric landscaping machineries.
