Gilroy
– New homeowners in Gilroy can say goodbye to wood burning
fireplaces if the city adopts a new ordinance currently being
developed by city staff.
Lisa Jensema, the city’s environmental programs coordinator, and
her staff are researching a proposal that would ban wood burning
fireplaces in all new homes in Gilroy sometime next year.
Gilroy – New homeowners in Gilroy can say goodbye to wood burning fireplaces if the city adopts a new ordinance currently being developed by city staff.
Lisa Jensema, the city’s environmental programs coordinator, and her staff are researching a proposal that would ban wood burning fireplaces in all new homes in Gilroy sometime next year.
Homeowners who currently have wood burning fireplaces would not be required to swap for gas fireplaces. If homeowners with wood burning fireplaces want to remodel their homes, and the remodel involves their fireplace, the ordinance potentially could require them to install a gas fireplace instead of reinstalling their old, wood burning fireplace.
Under the ordinance, wood burning appliances also could be banned for commercial use, except for establishments that use such appliances to cook food such as a wood-fired pizza restaurant.
In place of wood burning appliances, builders instead could install EPA-approved wood heaters, pellet-fueled wood heaters, EPA-approved fireplaces or – the cleanest option – natural gas fireplaces.
According to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the agency that oversees air quality in the Bay Area, 30 cities and six counties had adopted the ordinance as of June 2004. The district is targeting the remaining 70 cities and three counties in its oversight to do the same, said district spokeswoman Emily Hopkins.
“One of the main reasons we’re advocating that cities adopt the ordinance is that it’s a public health issue,” Hopkins said. “I think it’s more a matter of awareness and getting the word out there. Often, the link between air pollution and smoke isn’t clear in people’s minds. But it’s something we can control and something we have a simple, clean alternative to.”
Wood burning appliances emit considerable levels of a harmful substance called particulate matter, or PM. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has linked the matter to aggravated asthma, chronic bronchitis and a host of other lung-related problems.
Very small particulate matter, called PM10 because it measures 10 micrometers or less in diameter, is especially harmful because it can be inhaled easily through the nose and throat, then become lodged in the lungs. Wood burning appliances emit this small size of particulate matter, and the matter especially becomes a problem during winter months and around the holidays when people are using their fireplaces more, Hopkins said.
Additionally, particulate matter is less of a problem when the weather is rainy and windy, Hopkins said. But when the air is cold and stagnant – characteristic of winter nights – the harmful matter remains trapped at ground level.
Like ozone pollution during the summer, particulate matter is easily trapped in Gilroy because polluted air from the north gets trapped in the valley.
The air quality district monitors levels of particulate matter in the Santa Clara Valley region – including Gilroy and San Martin – from two different stations in San Jose.
Last year, the region experienced five days of PM10 levels over the state standard, which is 50 micrograms of PM10 per cubic meter in a 24-hour period. The federal standard is less strict: 150 micrograms of PM10 per cubic meter in the same amount of time. Last year the region did not violate the federal standard, Hopkins said.
The air quality district estimates there are about 1.7 million fireplaces and wood stoves in the nine Bay Area counties it monitors. Jensema estimated up to 90 percent of homes in Gilroy have wood burning fireplaces, but the city’s building department did not have an exact number.
Joan Spencer, a registered respiratory therapist and Gilroy resident, said she strongly advocates the new ordinance. She said she’s seen more and more patients with asthma in the past few years, especially children and seniors.
Gilroy Unified School District nurse Eileen Obata said reported cases of asthma have risen from 315 in 2001-02 to 585 in 2003-04.
“It’s a significant problem now, and unless we take measures to live in a cleaner and greener environment, I don’t see it getting any better,” Spencer said.
Many of Spencer’s patients have no previous history or family history of respiratory problems, she said, and they don’t smoke or live with smokers.
“The question in my mind is why? What is causing this?” she said. “And I think it’s the poor air quality.”
In the next few years, the state could require local governments to adopt a standard wood burning appliance ordinance, Jensema said. But if the city first adopts its own ordinance, the local law would supersede the state’s.
For the past few months, Jensema and her staff have been studying a sample ordinance provided by the air quality district. Their next step, Jensema said, is to gather comments from local contractors, builders and masonry industry workers.
“A lot of the developers already are aware of the ordinance working well in other cities,” she said. “I don’t think they’d be surprised by it.”
Gas fireplaces already largely have replaced wood burning fireplaces over the past few years, Hopkins said. Jason Adair, owner of Monterey Spa and Stove in Morgan Hill, said he sells about 40 to 60 EPA-approved fireplaces per year, with an occasional sale of a wood burning fireplace.
Homes in the Eagle Ridge development, built by Shapell Industries, are equipped with gas fireplaces, said Shapell spokesman Gary Marsh.
Outdoor wood burning fireplaces, sometimes built into patios or backyards, are still in question for Gilroy’s ordinance, Jensema said. So far, the Bay Area’s air quality district does not address the open air fire pits, although Hopkins said other regional air quality agencies in the state are considering banning them as well.
Jensema said she hopes to bring the research before the city council early next year.
Councilman Charlie Morales said he thinks the ordinance would give Gilroy an edge ahead of state regulations that already are headed in the direction of stricter air quality protection, he said. As Gilroy continues to grow, Morales said, taking a proactive approach to issues such as air quality will become increasingly important.
“Many other cities have taken that step forward, and it’s a concept that many other cities are now engaging to improve quality of life and quality of health,” he said. “To me, that’s a big issue.”
Morales said he thinks contractors would be willing to work with the city to comply with the ordinance.
“It’s a very minor tweak as far as development and planning goes,” he said.
Rebates offered
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is offering two rebates for residents in Santa Clara County who want to get rid of their wood burning appliances. The first is a $100 rebate to retrofit an existing fireplace by installing a new gas log set or a new fireplace insert. The second is a $300 rebate to replace an existing wood burning stove or fireplace insert dated 1990 or later with a new gas appliance. Details: www.sparetheair.org.
