Another Town Ponders Noise Limits

String trimmers don’t go over well with dinner, at least according to one resident of Lookout Mountain, Tenn. The city council there is considering a ban on landscaping work there after 6 p.m.

Hot-button Issue

The conflict echoes others over blower and small-equipment noise across the country. Recent news reports show that blower bans were being discussed in Cambridge, Mass., Naples, Fla. and Los Gatos, Calif.

In the Tennessee town, at least one resident supported landscapers right to work with whatever tools they need.

“A lot of the (landscapers) are working for elderly residents who cannot get out and do the mowing themselves,” one man noted. Further, he said, many of those hired to do lawn work have full-time day jobs; evenings and weekends are the only times they are available to work in residents’ yards.

Not Settled Yet

According to the Tennessee mayor, the man who requested the prohibitions indicated that nobody except property owners working in the own yards should not be allowed to do any mowing on Sundays.

None of the proposed prohibitions would apply to property owners doing their own lawn work, Mayor Brown said.

Currently, the community allows people to cut grass, use string trimmers, blow leaves and perform other noisy lawn-maintenance chores between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from noon until 8 p.m. on Sunday.

Source: www.chattanoogan.com, press reports