The Baltimore City Council voted 10-5 to ban gas-powered leaf blowers Monday night.

The ordinance takes effect Dec. 15, when all city agencies and contractors will permanently transition to electric leaf blowers.

“Devices like this have an outsized and adverse impact in terms of production of air pollution. While there is a lot that we could be changing this a good step,” sponsor Ryan Dorsey said.

Landscape companies and residents may use gas-powered leaf blowers between Oct. 15 and Dec. 15 of 2025 and 2026 before the ordinance goes into effect year-round.

The Department of Public Works said in a report that it would cost $41,000 for its water facilities division to replace 18 gas-powered leaf blowers at $2,300 per unit. Around the city’s reservoirs, which are mostly in Baltimore County, the department manages “vast areas or wooded watersheds” that require the commercial-grade blowers built for longer hours and heavier use, spokesperson Jennifer Combs said.

The department’s solid waste division could replace 24 gas-powered blowers designed for lighter work at $378 per unit for around $9,000. The city’s department of recreation and parks said in support of the bill the agency has been transitioning to electric blowers for several years.

An earlier version of the ordinance contained civil penalties of up to $1,000 for violations, but the final version of the bill institutes $250 citations.

In one hour, a commercial gas-powered leaf blower emits as much pollution as driving a car for 1,100 miles and four times as much as commercial lawn mowers, the environmental group mid-Atlantic branch of the National Audubon Society, an environmental group said in a letter supporting the ordinance. More than 100 other American cities are already phasing out gas-powered leaf blowers, according to testimony from the group. Some opponents also complain about the noise.

Washington, D.C., prohibited gas-powered leaf blowers in 2022, and Montgomery County banned the sale of them in 2024 and will not allow their use starting next July.