Glendale, AZ Noise Ordinances: Leaf Blower Rules (2026)

Article IX, Fugitive Dust, was adopted by Ordinance No. 27. Section 25-101 defines a "leaf blower" as any device that generates a stream of air designed or used to move landscape materials, and defines "dustproof method" as asphalt, concrete, bituminous treatment, pavers, or crushed rock or gravel between one-quarter and three-quarter inch maintained two inches deep within a permanent border. Section 25-102(a) makes it unlawful to utilize a leaf blower to move landscape materials into a public roadway. The rest of the article works alongside that rule: subsection (b) bars unpaved parking, maneuvering, or ingress/egress areas serving commercial, industrial, or more than four residential units unless surfaced with a dustproof method; subsection (c) applies the same surfacing requirement to parking areas of 3,000 square feet or more serving four or fewer residential units; subsection (d) bars parking or driving a vehicle on an unpaved vacant lot unless the surface is an excepted road/easement or dustproof; and subsection (e) bars operating a vehicle on any unpaved surface closed by a federal agency, the state, Maricopa County, the city, or a posted private landowner.

Section 25-104 exempts vehicles used in the normal course of business or government operations from the closed-surface rule, and suspends the whole article during emergencies or when directed by a peace officer. Section 25-105 phased the rules in: the four-or-fewer-unit surfacing rule in (c) took effect October 1, 2009, the larger-property rule in (b) took effect October 1, 2008, and the remaining provisions, including the leaf-blower rule, became effective March 31, 2008.