A. As used in this section, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed to them:
COMMERCIAL APPLICATOR: A person who is engaged in the business of applying fertilizer for hire.
LAWN FERTILIZER: Any fertilizer, whether distributed by a commercial or noncommercial applicator, which is distributed for nonagricultural use, such as for lawns, golf courses, parks and cemeteries. Lawn fertilizer does not include fertilizer products intended primarily for garden and indoor plant application or the following natural products: agricultural limestone, marl, sea solids and unprocessed animal manure, which have not been manipulated so as to alter or change them chemically, burnt or hydrated lime.
NONCOMMERCIAL APPLICATOR: A person, including a homeowner or renter, who applies fertilizer but who is not a commercial applicator.
B. No commercial or noncommercial applicator shall apply to any area within the village any lawn fertilizer, liquid or granular, that is labeled as containing more than zero percent (0%) phosphorus or other compound containing phosphorus, such as phosphate, except as provided in subsection D of this section.
C. No commercial or noncommercial applicator shall apply any lawn fertilizer to:
1. Impervious surfaces, including parking lots, roadways and sidewalks;
2. Areas within drainage ditches;
3. Waterways or within ten feet (10') thereof; and
4. Any delineated wetland and any area established as a natural buffer zone therefor.
Any lawn fertilizer application occurring in violation of the foregoing must be immediately contained and either legally applied to turf or placed in an appropriate container.
D. The prohibition against the use of fertilizer containing phosphorus shall not apply to:
1. Newly established turf or lawn areas during their first growing season.
2. Turf and lawn areas for which soil tests confirm the ambient phosphorus content is below median phosphorus levels for typical area soils. The scope of this exemption shall only be for such volume or concentration of phosphorus necessary to permit such turf or lawn area to contain phosphorus levels equal to the median phosphorus levels for typical area soils. Phosphorus applied as fertilizer pursuant to this exemption shall be integrated into the soil where it is immobilized and generally protected from loss by stormwater runoff.
3. Agricultural uses, vegetable and flower gardens or application to trees or shrubs in accordance with sound horticultural practices.
4. The naturally occurring phosphorus in unadulterated natural or organic fertilizing products such as yard waste compost.
E. The owner or manager of any business in the village which sells any fertilizer at retail shall be required to post a sign at the point of sale for fertilizer advising customers that the application of lawn fertilizer containing phosphorus is prohibited in the village except when allowed by the regulations set forth in this section. Such sign shall be legible and conspicuously posted next to the lawn fertilizer, no less than four feet (4') above the ground.
F. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars ($200.00) and not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) for each offense. Each day such violation is continued shall constitute a separate offense. (Ord. 09-4-9, 4-21-2009)