City of Novato, CA

On September 13, 2022, the Novato City Council adopted Ordinance No. 1690 related to the use of leaf blowers within Novato city limits. The ordinance has three key provisions:

• Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers: The use of gas-powered leaf blowers is prohibited at all times. This includes using them to blow leaves, dirt, or other debris from any surface.

• Permitted Hours of Operation: Electric leaf blowers may only be used Monday through Saturday: 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. and Sundays & Official Federal Holidays: 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

• Debris Management: Leaves, dirt, and other debris must not be blown onto neighboring private properties, public property or rights-of-way, or streets, sidewalks, or storm drains. If anything is blown into these areas, it must be cleaned up and thrown away properly.

Learn more about this topic at novato.org/leafblowers.

On May 9, 2023, the Novato City Council adopted Ordinance No. 1701 prohibiting single-use plastic foodware (including bioplastics) at Novato-based businesses with a food facility permit issued by the County of Marin’s Environmental Health Services (EHS) Division. The ordinance also requires reusable foodware be used for dine-in operations and compostable and/or all-aluminum foodware be provided for take-out services.

To ensure consistency across Marin County and avoid confusion for both businesses and consumers, the ordinance is modeled on an ordinance adopted by the Marin County Board of Supervisors on May 10, 2022.

Enforcement of the ordinance will be carried out by County EHS Division staff as part of the food facility inspection program. In order to allow time for businesses to deplete existing non-compliant stock and procure compliant foodware items, enforcement of the ordinance was delayed until November 2023.

Learn more about this topic at novato.org/foodware.

The City of Novato has been a sustainability leader for many years and was one of the first cities in Marin to adopt a Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) in 2009. As part of Novato's General Plan update process, the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reduction targets and measures from the 2009 CCAP were embedded into General Plan 2035, in addition to other sustainability goals, policies, and programs aimed at protecting our environment and addressing the climate crisis.

General Plan 2035 was adopted by the City Council on October 2020 and now serves at the City of Novato's CCAP. Sustainability and climate-related goals, polices and programs throughout the document are denoted with a green leaf.

In recognition of the acceleration in changes to our climate and the corresponding negative impacts (e.g. drought, wildfire, species loss, extreme weather, etc.) in November 2020 the Novato City Council adopted a Climate Emergency Resolution and declared addressing climate change a priority for the City.