The City of Whittier does not ban leaf blowers outright, but it prohibits operating leaf blowers and other small power equipment outdoors in residential areas during nighttime hours when the noise crosses a residential property line. There is no decibel limit and no gas-blower ban in the city code; the restriction is time-based.
Whittier Municipal Code 8.32.020 defines "small power equipment" to include lawn mowers, lawn and garden tools, leaf blowers, riding lawn mowers, and power saws (but not motor vehicles). WMC 8.32.040(D) ("Domestic Power Tools") makes it unlawful to operate, or permit the operation of, any mechanically powered saw, sander, drill, grinder, lawn or garden tool, snow blower, small power equipment, or similar device used outdoors in residential areas during nighttime hours so as to cause a noise disturbance across a residential real property boundary. Because the prohibition is tied to nighttime hours, leaf-blower and yard-equipment use is generally permitted during daytime hours, which the code defines as 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends and legal holidays (WMC 8.32.020). Whittier's code does not impose a decibel cap on blowers and does not ban gasoline-powered blowers; statewide, however, California has separately phased in restrictions on the sale of new gas-powered small off-road engines, which is a state matter, not a Whittier ordinance. Daytime operation still must not rise to excessive or unreasonable noise under WMC 8.32.030.
Nighttime leaf-blower or yard-equipment noise crossing a residential property line is a Chapter 8.32 violation, enforced by Code Enforcement and Police. Violations are public nuisances abatable by the City (WMC 8.32.150) and punished as prescribed in WMC 1.08.010.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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Whittier Municipal Code Chapter 8.24 (Weed Abatement), adopted by Ordinance 2388 in 1986, is the City's weed ordinance. It makes it a public nuisance to allo...
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