SEBASTIAN — The strong fertilizer ordinance championed by the State of Florida and already adopted by Indian River County, St. Lucie County, the City of Vero Beach, among others, was passed 3-2 before a packed house at the Feb. 26 Council meeting.
The ordinance will move to a second public hearing and reading March 26.
The ordinance was brought back to the table by Councilman Jerome Adams after being recommended by the city’s Natural Resources Board last year, which was shot down by the Sebastian City Council 4-1 in September.
As read by City Attorney Robert Ginsburg, the ordinance would amend the City Code Section 50-5 – Health and Sanitation – by amending the prohibited application periods to prohibit the application of certain fertilizer between June 1 and Sept. 30 (called the Blackout Period) regulating fertilizer content and application rates, and providing exemptions.
When the ordinance had first come before Council Sept. 11, Councilwoman Andrea Coy was the lone pro-ordinance vote.
This time Coy was joined by Adams and Councilman Richard Gillmor, who had not been on the Council at the last vote but has been a vocal lagoon advocate.
The two dissenting Council members, Mayor Bob McPartlan and Vice Mayor Jim Hill, had voiced the strongest opposition at the initial vote and remained firm in their stand.
Their main objection was the blackout period, which Hill, in an impassioned “minority statement,” said he sincerely believed was not only useless and unenforceable, but also “could be detrimental.”
They also remained unconvinced that the amount of dissolved or free nitrogen that has leeched into the lagoon from fertilizer runoff is that significant.
The two were apparently the only ones in the standing-room-only Council chambers who shared that view.
Before the vote, person after person took the lectern, including Marine biologist John Orcutt and Dr. Richard Baker of the Pelican Island Audubon Society, Marine Resources Council Executive Director Dr. Leesa Souto and Rick Smith, representing the 63-member Sebastian Fishing Club, among many others, all urging the Council to pass the ordinance.
“Strong fertilizer ordinances are the most cost effective actions to keep nutrients out of the lagoon,” Orcutt said, reacting to the final vote. “And the people of Indian River County are strongly encouraging their elected officials to take a leadership role toward lagoon remediation. Jerome Adams should be praised for doing his homework on the fertilizer ordinance, and taking the lead to bring it back before the city council for passage.
“The lagoon is in a crisis state, and I hope the Town of Orchid, in its town council, will do its homework and take a similar action on fertilizer as Indian River County, the City of Sebastian and the City of Vero Beach. The passage of strong ordinances countywide will enable a strong education opportunity.”
Baker, too, appeared was elated and relieved.
“It took the commission a few times to get it right,” he said. “Our springs are deteriorating, lagoons and rivers deteriorating, obvious we need to control use of fertilizer. I hope we get our citizens to try to grow the plants native here. New people bring their northern plants and grasses, which are often not suited for Florida, they require so much additional care. (It’s) been ingrained in (the) history of America, only the very rich can afford gardens like in England, and we’ve kind of carried on the tradition. Now, maybe we’ll be a country of trying to do things right.”
