Seven years ago, Brevard County officials began restricting the use of fertilizers during the rainy season, but property owners haven’t had a good explanation why.
Education on the fertilizer ordinance has been lacking, and after all, lawn-and-garden stores can still sell any kind of fertilizer a customer wants, even if its nitrogen and phosphorus content would nourish more algae if it ran off into the ailing Indian River Lagoon.
But that may change May 7, when the County Commission is scheduled to consider an amendment to the 2012 Fertilizer Use on Urban Landscape Ordinance, requiring merchants to post signs advising fertilizer buyers when they can apply it and what kinds not to buy.
That would be just in time for June 1, when the annual restrictions begin. They last until Sept. 30, typically the end of the summer rainy season.
Nitrogen and phosphorus, two components of fertilizers, nourish lawns – but also nourish algae when rains carry them toward the lagoon. And that nourished algae has blocked sunlight from seagrasses and choked off oxygen from fish and other marine animals. A “superbloom” in 2012 led to massive fish kills and even death for dolphins, manatees and pelicans.
Virginia Barker, director of the county’s Natural Resources Management Department, says she hopes the county-made signs will help reach residents who may not have heard of the fertilizer restrictions.
Barker says the commission has approved using $125,000 from the $422 million Save Our Indian River Lagoon Trust Fund for fertilizer education and outreach. The fund gets its money from the county’s half-cent sales tax for lagoon cleanup.
Carolina Alvarez, who coordinates the county’s compliance with the federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, told commissioners last week she had spoken with the managers at Lowe’s in Indialantic.
“They didn’t have any issues with putting signs by the fertilizer,” she said. “They requested 10 signs.”
But Commissioner John Tobia, of Grant-Valkaria, objected to the county requiring private merchants to post the signs.
“I’ll agree we need to prevent nitrogen from entering the lagoon,” he said. “But this mandate is premature.”
It’s the county’s job to post the signs, he said, not a duty for the private business.
In fact, Tobia had directed his staff to write a proposal that would make it a choice for merchants to post the signs, not a requirement. He failed to get a second on his motion for the voluntary sign posting.
Tobia asked Barker what the penalties would be for refusing to post the signs. Barker suggested maybe a $500 fine, but said she wasn’t trying to punish anyone.
“This isn’t about penalties,” she said. “This is about getting information posted for consumers.”
Vice Chair Bryan Lober said he might have agreed with Tobia if the requirement would be a burden on merchants. But posting signs was so minor he made the motion to advertise Barker’s proposal. And Tobia dissented in the 4-1 vote.
