At the Dec. 9 Town Council meeting, Falmouth Town Manager Amanda Methot-Vigue, front, presents the council with the updates to the draft pesticide and fertilizer ordinance. Screenshot / Town of Falmouth

The Falmouth Town Council’s years-long effort to pass a stricter pesticide and fertilizer ordinance will continue a few months longer, following the call for further minor edits about retailer compliance at the Town Council meeting on Dec. 9.

“Coming into this meeting this evening, I was hopeful that we could meet the timeline that we originally (planned), but also realistically knowing that a lot of helpful eyes will be looking at it this evening and that’s going to require us to re-look at this,” said Town Councilor Bryce Hach.

The controversial fertilizer update process began in 2022 when the Conservation Commission proposed amending the 2020 ordinance to regulate pesticides and fertilizers more strictly, following many Maine municipalities that have already done so. The town has the goal of the ordinance going into effect on April 1, 2025.

In addition to maintaining the restrictions in the 2020 ordinance, the more stringent draft ordinance proposed in April 2024 would have banned certain pesticides such as those containing neonicotinoids and fertilizer containing phosphorus, as well as use or sale of substances prohibited on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances. The draft ordinance would have also banned pesticide and fertilizer application within 75 feet of any body of water.

In May, the council resolved to continue working on the pesticide ordinance based on public feedback, as 57.5% of 600 Falmouth residents who responded to a survey were opposed to the draft ordinance.

At the Dec. 9 meeting, Falmouth Town Manager Amanda Methot-Vigue presented the revisions that the Ordinance Committee has since made to the new draft ordinance, following multiple meetings, community panel discussions and workshops. When modifying the draft, Methot-Vigue said in her presentation the Ordinance Committee focused on four remaining issues based on public feedback: the treatment of grubs; fertilizer containing phosphorus and nitrogen; the use of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances as the standard; and soil test requirements. The latter two issues saw no changes in the draft.

The treatment of grubs was the largest concern with the original draft ordinance, as many community members wanted to continue to spray their lawns with synthetic pesticides to eradicate grubs. The Ordinance Committee changed the draft ordinance from prohibiting pesticide application for grubs to allowing for the preventative application of pesticides for grubs, if applied by a professional applicator.

“A lot of the chemicals used for grub control are very harmful to water quality, to the environment, to pollinators, so this was the compromise that the Ordinance Committee landed on,” said Methot-Vigue.

The prohibition of synthetic fertilizer containing phosphorus on lawns and natural turf was changed to allow for the application of one pound of phosphorus per 1,000 square feet for new lawns or a soil test stating phosphorus is needed, with applications limited to twice a year. The updated draft ordinance also allows for select fertilizer application on lawns, limited to two pounds of nitrogen per 100 square feet with a maximum of two applications per year.

Additionally, the draft ordinance introduced on Dec. 9 removed redundancies in prohibiting sludge and biosolids as they are already banned by the state; added a buffer of 20 feet around storm drains for the application of pesticides; and banned all neonicotinoid pesticides, regardless of if they are exempted by the state.

The annual registration of pesticide applicators doing business in Falmouth – a carryover from the original draft ordinance – as well as the requirement for retailers to have signage that notes which pesticide and fertilizer products are permitted for use in Falmouth were further inspected by the Town Council.

Councilors debated the necessity and cost of the applicator registration, deciding that it would remain included in the ordinance and the exact cost of the fee could be determined at a later date. However, the concerns about the requirements for retailer signage were not immediately resolved.

Town Council Chair Jay Trickett questioned whether the requirement was clear, optimal and possible. The councilors discussed whether retailers should be asked to declare which pesticides are or are not permitted in Falmouth, what financial impact the requirement could have on Falmouth retailers, and whether large chains in Falmouth such as Walmart would be able to receive company approval for the signage in time for the ordinance’s effective date on April 1.

“If you want to have a retailer requirement, I strongly urge the council to make sure this one is right. I don’t think you want to be imposing what I think could end up being a fairly burdensome requirement for retailers if you are not confident in how it is going to be applied,” said Trickett.

The council decided that to clarify this requirement, the Ordinance Committee will meet on an ad hoc basis sometime before the first meeting of the Town Council in February, at which the pesticide and fertilizer ordinance will be reintroduced.

“I’d rather get this right than try to provide a second ordinance down the road, even if that means we have to delay things a little bit,” said Hach.

“I know a lot of work has come into this process to get us to where we are now. I think we’re 95% there. This 5% I think is going to be helpful for us in the long view,” he said.