Leesburg EAC Meeting Discusses Drone Show, Pumpkin Smash, and Bag Tax – July 8, 2026
Leesburg Environmental Advisory Commission Meeting – July 8, 2026
The Leesburg Environmental Advisory Commission (EAC) met at 6:32 p.m. on July 8, 2026. The commission added a discussion on a possible drone show to replace the town fireworks display, approved May meeting minutes, and received staff updates on bag-tax revenue, bamboo removal, water refill stations, recycling outreach, and the upcoming Pumpkin Smash event.
Consent Calendar
- Motion to approve the agenda with an added new-business item exploring a recommendation to replace the town's fireworks with a drone show. Motion seconded; approved.
- Motion to approve the minutes from the May meeting. Motion seconded; approved.
Staff Reports and Discussion Items
- Bag-tax-funded drop-off site: Town Council approved using bag-tax revenue for a secondary recycling drop-off location described in the transcript as 'a big boy school.' The contract cost will rise from under $5,000 to about $10,000, requiring competitive solicitation. Staff hopes the current vendor will rebid. The goal is for the site to be operational by October 1, with the appropriation officially transferred by September 22.
- Bag-tax fund balance: Of the anticipated $40,000 in bag-tax revenue, about $10,000 will be used for the drop-off program; the remaining funds will be held in a special account for future projects that meet the approved categories for waste minimization, litter prevention, and outreach/education. These funds do not expire at year-end.
- Running bamboo ordinance: Town Council is moving forward with a bamboo ordinance and wants an educational component or demonstration site. Staff said a quarter-acre bamboo stand on a town property makes a small maintenance demonstration unrealistic, so staff will recommend full removal, which may require excavation and ongoing treatment.
- Water refill stations at events: Staff described a last-minute 6,000-gallon water truck at a recent event with no signage and questions about water potability. The airport has a 125-gallon 'monster jug' that can be borrowed for the air show. Members suggested the EAC develop a formal policy or recommendation on water/hydration stations at town events, and a member volunteered to lead the research.
- Budget update: The new budget is in effect; EAC has $5,000 this year, but approved enhancements are one-time, and the base allocation returns to $3,500 next year unless new enhancements are submitted. Some EAC merchandise is delayed until October.
- Website update: Staff updated the EAC web page, broke up an infographic, and added alt text. A 125-character website limit prevents a full alt-text version, but the update was considered an improvement and will be published.
Pumpkin Smash Planning
- Last year the drop-off collected 2,340 pounds of pumpkins. This year staff is planning a two-to-three-hour Pumpkin Smash using scaffolding so participants can smash pumpkins into a dumpster, followed by a one-week drop-off period. The event may include educational stations about composting, cooking/skinning pumpkins, and why painted pumpkins cannot be composted.
- Members suggested additional ideas such as catapults or trebuchets, pumpkin bowling, science experiments, a seed swap, Tree Commission involvement, and food vendors. Staff cautioned about liability, safety, and avoiding new waste by encouraging purchases of pumpkins just to smash them. Staff will talk to the Tree Commission, look into scaffolding rentals and food-vendor rules, and finalize a location.
Drone Show Discussion
- A member proposed researching whether Leesburg should replace its town fireworks display with a drone light show, noting Fairfax County's drone show was successful this year. Members noted fireworks create air-quality and debris concerns and that a drone show would be quieter.
- Staff and members discussed likely costs: small-scale drone shows can cost up to $20,000; medium shows with 100–300 drones cost roughly $20,000–$90,000; larger shows cost more. A member plans to find out what Fairfax paid and will bring that information back. The EAC will likely prepare a presentation for Town Council, since Council direction would be needed before formal action.
Recycling Tagging Program
- The recycling cart-tagging program is ongoing; two more zones remain to be completed, and no complaints had been received. Staff said tagging photos are providing outreach insights.
Key Outcomes
- EAC approved the agenda with the drone-show item and approved May meeting minutes.
- EAC will develop water-hydration station policy research; one member volunteered to lead.
- EAC will continue researching drone-show costs and Fairfax details, with a possible future Town Council presentation.
- Staff will move forward on Pumpkin Smash logistics, including contacting the Tree Commission and investigating scaffolding and food vendors.
- The EAC webpage update will be published after member review.
Meeting Transcript
I think you can call the meeting to order and then there's the disclosures that have to be read and then disclosure first or whatever. All right. All right, I call us meeting to order. Um at 6 32 p.m. I'll start first with the meeting disclosure. Um this meeting recording disclosure. Oh wait, is it practice of the town of Leisburg to record meetings that the town standing boards and commissions? All town council board and commission meetings are recorded and can be found on the town's website at WWE PA.com. The town strives to provide equal access to the service regarding race pillar, national origin or English proficiency to help us access our communities needs the town appreciate members of public completing a voluntary and anonymous demographic survey to access uh the survey to scan the QR code on the table over there outside of the chambers or resumations. I have a question is branded a petitioner. No, okay, visitors. So to be listed in a meeting. Anyway, say no. Yes. Okay. Do you want to talk? Uh yes, but if I'm allowed to like the petitioners like five minutes. Right. No one those are kind of prepared if they're for a reason to talk to you about it, and we're getting money out of bags, right? We're getting back money and we can do some other cool stuff. But uh no, right now I have nothing to do. Oh person will approve the agenda. Um to motion. I'm motioned to approach. Did you want to? Oh yeah, talk about one second before we can. Yeah. Um, I would like to ask if we could add something to the agenda. I had asked Deb ahead of time, but she already sent the agenda out. I wanted to explore as the commission what it would look like if we made a recommendation to changing the fireworks to remote show for the town of the because the drone show. Fairfax did it successfully this year and it got pretty good response from the people that were there. So I would just kind of like to see, you know, what would that look like? Can we talk? So she wants to add that as a new business. Okay. Personally, I think dogs that we hated and people that don't like it. I need to say, yeah, and there were a lot of air quality concerns for sure. Yeah, hazardous. So I motion to approve the agenda with the addition to it. Second. Awesome. Um all right, so then uh we've got the approval of minutes for May. I think we're sorry, this is three seconds. Anyway, motion to approve the minutes. I motion to approve the minutes. Second. Anyone closed. Oh, I see different. Yeah, okay. Okay, yeah, we should see it.
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