A ban on the usage of artificial pesticides on residential properties is headed for the poll this yr in Cape Elizabeth.
The Cape Elizabeth City Council is predicted to resolve Monday whether or not to schedule a referendum for the June or November municipal election.
The referendum is the results of a profitable petition drive final month calling for the residential ban of artificial pesticides, together with the prohibition of the usage of any kind of pesticide – natural or in any other case – on properties inside 75 toes of a physique of water or wetlands. The ordinance wouldn’t apply to retail, industrial agricultural or public-owned properties, akin to parks, faculties and municipal buildings.
The petition drive was organized by the volunteer-driven group Natural Cape and acquired 1,888 signatures inside per week, in line with Richard Nick Bryant, who drafted the ordinance proposal for the petition. Licensed signatures totaled 1,049, clearing the edge of 10%, or 885, of the city’s registered voters wanted to place the referendum on the poll.
Natural Cape’s aim “is to guard the general public well being and defend the general public sources of Cape Elizabeth from pesticide air pollution,” Bryant stated at a City Council public listening to final week.
“Pesticides utilized on one particular person’s garden find yourself drifting over to the neighbor’s property,” he stated, and stormwater runoff can ship pesticides into close by our bodies of water.
As well as, pesticides pose a well being threat, particularly for youngsters who could are available contact with dangerous pesticides unknowingly whereas taking part in exterior, he stated.
The City Council acquired over two dozen emails concerning the proposed ordinance prematurely of final week’s public listening to, with about 70% in favor of it, councilors stated. Emails acquired in opposition have been “largely from of us within the landscaping enterprise,” stated Chairperson Jeremy Gabrielson.
Resident Erik Lema, who owns a small enterprise that makes a speciality of invasive plant administration, stated he hasn’t taken a place on the proposed laws however has issues about their unintended penalties.
“That’s one thing that I’ve seen in cities to the north of us – Portland and South Portland specifically,” Lema stated. “Myself and different colleagues … flat out refuse to work in these cities anymore as a result of (their pesticide ordinances are) so complete.”
Artificial pesticides are the strongest method to struggle damage-causing invasive crops, he stated, and a few can’t be managed if the pesticides aren’t used.
Bryant stated the Cape Elizabeth proposal features a provision to permit residents to request a waiver for instances when a prohibited pesticide is deemed needed.
He additionally stated that many of the native pesticide laws adopted in additional than 30 municipalities in Maine “are extra complete than what’s proposed” for Cape Elizabeth.
“It’s a baseline strategy,” he stated.
Natural Cape would love the City Council to “acknowledge the knowledge of this ordinance and undertake it itself, moderately than placing it out for a public vote,” Bryant informed the council. Barring that, a vote in June could be higher than one in November as a result of “this can be a seasonal matter,” he stated.
The council has the choice to enact the ordinance with out placing it out for a vote, however most councilors stated they would favor placing the ordinance on the November poll. They want time, they stated, to draft amendments to the “baseline” ordinance as written to tweak the language, flesh out how will probably be enforced and wrap up different particulars.
In addition they stated enacting new laws mid-summer might result in confusion for residents who frequently use artificial pesticides.
« Earlier
Subsequent »
Associated Tales