Gas Blowers to be Phased Out in LO

What our neighborhood Association Board wants to know is what the City of Lake Oswego is doing about the NOISE from the gas blowers.

Here's an update of what I've learned. We are better together, so please comment with your suggestions.

The Lake Oswego City Council has not yet enacted a ban, but has clearly set a process in motion toward phasing out gas-powered leaf blowers and related equipment.

• No local ban on gas-powered blowers or lawn gear is currently in effect in Lake Oswego.

• The Council has formally initiated a planning process, aims to align with Portland’s post‑2026 timeline, and is studying how best to phase in restrictions equitably and in coordination with industry.

• City operations are already using battery‑electric equipment, and community discussions—via Sustainability Advisory Board public meetings and surveys—are ongoing   

What’s happened so far

• As of November 2024, Lake Oswego has no formal regulation prohibiting public use of gas-powered lawn equipment  .

• However, during the 2024–2025 goal‑setting cycle, the Council directed the Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB) to study and evaluate how Portland’s ban, set to begin in 2026, could inform a similar policy in Lake Oswego. Specifically, they’re to develop a two‑year plan, including legal code options and a communication strategy, with the goal of phasing out gas-powered equipment after Portland’s new restrictions take effect  .

• The Sustainability Advisory Board had previously explored proposals including a potential ban on sale and use by January 2025, and broader use restrictions (including landscaping companies and residents) by January 2026  . But SAB members and staff acknowledged challenges around enforcement, equity, cost assistance, and industry readiness, recommending education and phased approaches instead  .

• Meanwhile, the city has already begun shifting its own operations over to electric tools. Contracts were approved (e.g., with Storm Landscape) to provide all-electric landscaping for over 200 city-maintained sites, and city departments have been transitioning equipment as replacements arise  .

What’s Coming Next

• The current city initiative is a two-year policy development window: crafting an operational plan, drafting code amendments, and launching a communications strategy to prepare a phase‑out in Lake Oswego, timed after Portland’s ban begins in January 2026  .

• The plan is expected to include tools like educational outreach, financial incentives or rebates (similar to Multnomah County’s program), and possibly limited enforcement built around property owners rather than contractors  .

  
  

What you can do to help:

• Buy an electric blower and electric lawn mower. The battery-powered blowers are surprisingly more powerful than they used to be. Consider buying and splitting the cost and/or sharing this new equipment with your neighbors.

  • New York Times Wirecutter's recommendations for blowers

• Hire a landscaping firm that uses electric equipment and/or does "quiet yard care". The LO Sustainability group has created a list of residential landscape maintenance companies that offer alternatives to gas-powered equipment in Lake Oswego. And when you mention “LOSN” when you book with these landscapers, you'll get $25 off your first visit!

  • Here's their list

• Limit your use of gas powered blowers only to the few weeks in the fall when there are so many leaves.

• Coordinate with your adjacent neighbors to use the same landscaping "blow and go" people so the noise is limited to a specific day/time. It will still be noisy but the noise will be predictable and concentrated to a specific day/time vs. hearing the noise throughout the week from all the different "blow and go" guys.

• Leave the leaves or leave most of the leaves. Use a rake, broom or electric blower to clear hard surfaces (walkways and driveways) and leave the leaves in your garden. The gardening experts say the leaves act as mulch.

• Get your exercise using a broom and rake! My husband and I let our "blow and go" guys go and have been doing the work ourselves "the old fashioned way". It does take more time than the high powered blowers to rake, sweep and pick up but we are not blowing the good dirt and compost we add to the garden that was happening with the "landscaping" blow and go guys. That makes for happier and healthier plants and less stressed trees.

• Replace grass with plantings.

• Keep your trees trimmed and well maintained in the summer before the fall.

• If you're in a complex with a HOA or property management company, ask for quiet hours and contract guidelines with landscapers.

• Join groups to advocate for change. Groups like Quiet Clean PDX and LOSN (Lake Oswego Sustainability Network) are working to raise awareness and shift behavior. You can sign petitions, attend City Council meetings and ask for change.

Other ideas? Share them here please in the comments.

Check out the LO Sustainability Network website for lots of good information. Our neighbor Betsy Wosko is very active with this group and she's done a lot to educate us on our Old Town Association Board about all this risks and benefits to change from gas powered equipment to electric or human-powered gardening.

Ongoing noise from high frequency gas blowers is hard to endure. Here are some personal coping ideas:

• Use noise-canceling headphones

• Close windows and doors during yard work hours

• Put on white noise machines or soft music to help indoors

We're in this together friends and neighbors. Homeowners have control of what they do and change. The people living in apartment and condo complex buildings will need to advocate for change. Sounds like in two years, we'll have a quieter neighborhood once the gas powered ban takes affect. Until then, let's figure out how to kindly and effectively change our ways from noisy gas powered equipment to other alternatives.