Proposed Swampscott Bans Target Gas Leaf Blowers, Plastic Food Boxes, Feeding Wildlife

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — Townwide restrictions on using gas-powered leaf blowers in the summer, to-go plastic and styrofoam food containers and feeding wildlife are set to be among the items up for a vote at the Swampscott annual town meeting on May 15.

The warrant articles are all designed, to various degrees, to be proactive in the town's efforts to mitigate climate change and protect wildlife by not having coyotes and other species become reliant on humans for food.

"Everybody has to play a role," Swampscott Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald told Patch. "It has to come community by community, unfortunately. As a seaside community, I think we have an even greater responsibility to protect our oceans from plastics.

"Swampscott needs to embrace these changes and cannot wait for broader action (statewide or nationally)."

The warrant articles not involving financing were discussed at Wednesday's Select Board meeting.

Article 18 would prohibit the feeding of wild animals in town with escalating fines in place for offenders. The perils of feeding wildlife have come into greater focus in recent years with a coyote population becoming more visible — by many anecdotal estimations — and the belief that humans leaving out food for the wild dogs can make them more habituated and less afraid of people, increase neighborhood interactions and put the coyotes at risk for needing to be destroyed in the case of a bite.

"There is a tendency to vilify coyotes," said Fitzgerald, who sponsored the warrant article. "A lot of them are just moving through. What we're trying to do is create a community that has a healthy appreciation for small pockets of wildlife that are moving through town."

Under the proposed ordinance, a first-time violation after a warning would carry a fee of $50 and could be increased to $100 for a second offense and $300 for subsequent offenses. Enforcement could come from Swampscott police, animal control or a member of the health department.

"Everyone needs to have a little more sense in dealing with these populations that over the last 50 years, frankly, were managed by other means and now through conservation are starting to come back," Fitzgerald said. "We need to be more mindful that every coyote sighting is not a cause for alarm."

The wildlife feeding bylaw does have a carve-out to allow birdfeeders.

Article 19 would prohibit the use of gas-powered leaf blowers from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The bylaw is mirrored after one passed in Marblehead last year — after years of it getting voted down at town meetings — that prohibits the gas-powered machines in the summer months as a "quiet time" but still allows them in the spring and fall when most heavy-duty yard work is done.

Marblehead town meeting voters this spring will face two leaf blower articles — one that repeals last year's ban, and one that includes enforcement fees and mechanisms that were not part of the original restriction.

"I would be fine with every month having them banned," Swampscott Select Board member Peter Spellios said. "I was just trying to make (the bylaw) consistent with Marblehead so that we could negate the conversation generally about that there are different rules (for neighboring communities). But I am 100 percent fine with getting rid of gas leaf blowers (entirely)."

The Select Board voted to support favorable action on the ban at the town meeting.

Article 20 would amend the town's plastic straw prohibition to include plastic takeout containers as well as styrofoam containers for restaurants and businesses. That bylaw would go into effect in January 2024 to allow businesses time to use up any current supply stock and become familiar with the new rules.

"We are going to try to force a more renewable resource for these containers," Fitzgerald said. "Some restaurants use paper and cardboard and soy-based utensils and I think, ideally, that's the goal that we're trying to push."

Fitzgerald said the bylaw was modeled after a Falmouth bylaw that recently instituted a similar ban.

"We're at a point now environmentally that we have to be more affirmatively in support of changes because we have been behind the eight ball, as I think some of our (climate) advocates have mentioned," Fitzgerald said. "We have a lot of work to do and we probably shouldn't push it off too long."

The Select Board delayed discussion and potential recommendation on supporting the plastic container restriction to its Monday meeting.

"I believe the burden that plastic (to the environment) is greater than the burden that we're putting on any one business in Swampscott," Spellios said.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)