Oyster Bay, NY Noise Ordinances: Leaf Blower Rules (2026)

Section 156-4B(18), added by Local Law No. 2-1996, prohibits operating any motorized leaf-blower device before 8:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m. on weekdays, and before 9:00 a.m. or after 5:00 p.m. on weekends and national holidays. Unlike several other paragraphs of § 156-4B, the leaf-blower rule does not require proof that the sound crosses a residential boundary or reaches a noise-sensitive zone; it simply bars motorized use outside the stated hours town-wide. The provision sits alongside the domestic power tools rule in § 156-4B(16), which separately restricts saws, sanders, drills, grinders, lawn or garden tools and snowblowers to a 10:00 p.m.-to-8:00 a.m. cutoff and a boundary-disruption test; leaf blowers get their own, stricter, hour-based standard instead.

The chapter contains no gas-powered ban, no seasonal shutdown and no decibel limit for leaf blowers, only the time-of-day restriction. Landscapers and homeowners running blowers before or after the posted hours are subject to the same Department of Environmental Resources enforcement and Chapter 156 penalty structure that applies to every other prohibited act in § 156-4, including citation, a Bureau of Administrative Adjudication hearing under § 156-8.2, or prosecution as a misdemeanor for repeat violations within a five-year span.