Martha’s Vineyard Island-Wide Lawn Fertilizer Initiative

1. Martha’s Vineyard Island-Wide Lawn Fertilizer Initiative

2. Review Opportunity • Review Approach • Review and Discuss Actual Draft Regulations • Agree BoH Regulatory Path to Approval • Discuss Outreach Opportunities Lawn Fertilizer InitiativePresentation AgendaNovember 5, 2013

3. The Vineyard’s Ground and Surface Waters are Both Wonderful And Threatened; • Opportunities Exist to Better Protect our Waters, Assuring that they are Sustainable, as well as Capable of Sustaining Us; • Surface Waters: Fishing, Boating & Swimming; • Public Health Status – Increasingly Anoxic & Subject to Algal Blooms: Threatening Ponds, Seafood and Ultimately Human Health • Ground Waters: Drinking • Public Health Status -- Excellent, but Subject to Rising Nitrates in Groundwater: Potential Long Term Threat to Infant Health Status of Island Water Resources

4. Lawn Fertilizers Account for 5-15% of the Island’s Controllable Nitrogen LAWN FERTILIZER USAGE

5. Lawn Fertilizers Account for 5-15% of the Island’s Controllable Nitrogen Sengekontacket: MEP(%) LAWN FERTILIZER USAGE

6. Lagoon Pond: MEP(%) LAWN FERTILIZER USAGE

7. Opportunity: • Lawn Fertilizers Account for 5-15% of the Island’s Controllable Nitrogen • Better Management of Lawn Fertilizers Could • Improve our Pond’s Water Quality • Protect Human Health • Offer a Low Cost Response to the MA Estuaries Program • Opportunities Exist to Better Control the Timing, Amount, and Type of Application LAWN FERTILIZER USAGE

8. Dept Ag Resources Given State-Wide Responsibility Effective 9/12; • Regs. Due 9/13; Eff. 1/14; Phosphorus Focus; • Exemption for Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard Commissions Allowing for Local Regs. (Section 9); • Exemption Expires Year-End 2013 (Section 10) • Local Regulations Must be Equal to or More Restrictive than State-Wide Regulations MA State Lawn Fertilizer RegsHouse Bill 04394

9. Dept Ag Resources Given State-Wide Responsibility Effective 9/12; • Regs. Due 9/13; Eff. 1/14; Phosphorus Focus; • Exemption for Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard Commissions Allowing for Local Regs. (Section 9); • Exemption Expires Year-End 2014 (Section 10) • Local Regulations Must be Equal to or More Restrictive than State-Wide Regulations MA State Lawn Fertilizer RegsHouse Bill 04394

10. As Provided for Within House Bill 04394, the MVC will Designate an Island-Wide DCPC on Lawn Fertilization in Response to a Nomination by the Island-Wide Boards of Health. • Island-Wide Boards of Health will Draft Enabling Regulations and Hold Public Hearings, with Final Adoption to be on a Town-by-Town Basis, followed by Ratification on Town Floor. Proposal for Developing Island’s Lawn Fertilizer Regulations

11. A Working Group has Been Assembled to Help Draft the Island’s Proposed Lawn Fertilizer Program. • Each Island Board of Health has Expressed Support for the Island-Wide Initiative. • Based on Nantucket’s BoH Regulations; • Similar to Regulatory Approach Taken with Island-Wide Tobacco Regulations. • Towns that Ultimately Vote Not to Participate will be Subject to and Limited by Subsequent State Regulations. • This Approach has Received a Favorable Legal Review. Approach for Developing Island’s Lawn Fertilizer Regulations

12. Bill Veno, MVC Commissioner & Working Group Co-Chair • Michael Loberg, Tisbury BoH, Working Group Co-Chair • Matt Poole, Edgartown Health Agent & Chair Regulatory Sub-Comm • Matt Tobin, West Tisbury Landscaper • Tristan Israel, Tisbury Selectmen and Landscaper • Carlos Montoya, Aquinnah Landscaper • John Breckinridge, Oak Bluffs Conservation and MVC Commissioner • Jeff Carlson, Edgartown Conservation Commissioner & Vineyard Golf • Chris Murphy, Chilmark, Conservation Commissioner • Joan Malkin, Chilmark Conservation and MVC Commissioner • Linda Sibley, West Tisbury MV Commissioner • Tim Boland, Polly Hill Arboretum • Steve Anagnos, LawnPros Fertilizer Working Group

13. Input has Been Received From: • Polly Hill Arboretum • Water Alliance • Friends of Sengekontacket • Lagoon Pond Association • Conservation Committee Members • Vineyard Conservation Society Fertilizer Working Group Outreach

14. Vineyard Draft Lawn Fertilizer Regulations

15. Vineyard Draft Lawn Fertilizer Regulations

16. Vineyard Draft Lawn Fertilizer Regulations

17. Draft Lawn Fertilizer “Applicator” Regulations

18. Penalties • Standard-of-Care Discussions • Neighbor to Neighbor • Landscaper to Client • Community Associations to Community • Friends of Sengekontacket, Polly Hill, Vineyard Conservation Society, Lagoon Pond Assoc. etc. • Town to Community • Conservation Commission, Harbor and Shellfish Management, Board of Health, etc. MV Lawn Fertilizer RegulationsCompliance

19. Nantucket Draft Lawn Fertilizer Regulations

20. Matthew Crowther, Mink Meadows Golf Course • Tim Boland, Polly Hill Arboretum • Steve Anagnos, LawnPros • Lawn care product store owners (to be recruited) • Brendan O’Neil (to be recruited to help produce BMP) • Matt Poole, Board of Health representative Fertilizer Working Group Outreach----Fertilizer Application Programs----

21. September: Establish Working Group to Oversee Project • November 22nd: Finalize Draft Regulations • December xxth: Hold One Island-Wide BoH Public Hearing • January xxth: Each Town BoH Individually Holds 2nd Public Hearing & Votes on Regulations • Mid-January: Boards Of Health Incorporate Regulations into an Island-Wide DPDC Submission • January: Each Board Submits Warrant Articles for Spring Town Meetings • April: Ratify Regulations at Individual Town Meetings Proposed Timeline for Developing Island’s Lawn Fertilizer Regulations

22. Opportunity: • Lawn Fertilizers Account for 5-15% of the Island’s Controllable Nitrogen • Better Management of Lawn Fertilizers Could • Improve our Pond’s Water Quality • Protect Human Health • Offer a Low Cost Response to the MEP • Get ahead of a potential problem early • Opportunities Exist to educate toward effective use and protect the environment. Lawn Fertilizer Usage

23. Regulations: Application Limits • Enforcement & Licensure • Regulatory Path: Island-wide Tobacco Model • Date of 1st Open Hearing • Date(s) of 2nd Open Hearings • Path to DCPC Nomination • Outreach: Selectmen (Ron Rappaport) • Pond Associations • Town Committees MV Lawn Fertilizer RegulationsRequired Board of Health Decisions

24. Martha’s Vineyard Island-Wide Lawn Fertilizer Initiative