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operation draws customers to him. He prefers an 8 am start time and feels a later start-time is less disturbing to the public. He further described how he is able to maintain a landscaped property in Brookline of 15 acres (corrected after the meeting to 12.5 acres) using electric blowers. This was in response to other landscapers commenting on how Lexington has bigger lots than other towns that have restrictions on GLB's. • Chris Crugnale expressed approval of what he called a "phased introduction" in Brookline, Arlington and Newton. He further noted that a landscaper working for two hours on a weekday is less disruptive than a resident working for six hours on a Sunday. • Dan Koretz made comments in response to concerns expressed by landscapers. o The only change to the current proposal that was made in the past few months was to clarify that all landscape maintenance equipment other than GLBs are exempt from any proposed restrictions. The Committee is focusing on GLBs because they are the primary cause of the noise complaints. o Dan reiterated that the Committee has unanimously agreed to separate the proposed bylaw into two parts. ■ Hour/days/seasonal restrictions will be addressed first and intended to be brought to the Fall Town Meeting. Discussion about equipment and the possible GLB phase-out will be postponed until later in the summer to give landscapers time to do research. ■ Committee discussion of equipment will take place at the end of August. It is intended to bring this phase to the annual spring Town Meeting. Discussion of the Hour/days/seasonal restrictions will take place on June 8 at 7 pm. Comments for consideration at that meeting must be received by June 2. o Quieter GLBs are not as powerful as the noisier ones. o Other towns have created a noise limit of 65 dBA, while the Committee's proposal is 78 dBA. o The Noise Committee is concerned with noise, however other committees are worried about other problems related to GLBs such as the carcinogenic volatile organic compounds and particulates emitted by GLBs' 2-stroke engines. o The difference between homeowner use of GLBs and landscaper use is the difference between one blower operating at a time and four or five blowers at a time which can create noise that tops 95 dBA. Even a single blower exceeds the current Noise Bylaw. o The Committee intends to aim the strongest measures at the loudest offending equipment. o Dan showed a chart comparing other towns with restrictions to the Committee's previous proposal. • In response to Dan's question regarding what landscapers do in the towns with stricter restrictions, a variety of answers indicated that all but Lincoln have much smaller lots than Lexington so it is not an apples-to-apples comparison, that they don't have customers in those towns, or that they throttle down their equipment or ignore the regulations. Landscapers speculated that Landscapers will decline work in those towns if restriction enforcement is a problem. • George Carette indicated that moving to electric creates opportunity for new customers. He works on very large lots in Concord and they pay a premium because it is more difficult with electric blowers. He prefers the smaller lots in Lexington. He feels that mowing is no more expensive with electric because he doesn't have to pay for gas, but