Brevard County to require posting of fertilizer use rules at stores as way to help lagoon

Dave Berman Jim Waymer
Florida Today
Dave Grover, owner and founder of Sun Harbour Nursery in Indian Harbour Beach, shows a brand of fertilizer he recommends. Grover supports the just-approved  county ordinance amendment requiring retailers to post signs letting customers know about restrictions on fertilizer use.

New county-mandated signs will soon be popping up at stores that sell fertilizer, detailing for consumers the regulations governing use of the product.

It's the latest component of a broader effort to help improve the condition of the Indian River Lagoon by reducing the amount of harmful nitrogen and phosphorus enter the water.

"We'll be glad to put (the signs) out there," said Dave Grover, owner of Sun Harbour Nursery in Indian Harbour Beach, reacting to the county's fertilizer ordinance amendment, requiring the new informational signs.

While Grover said his store has "personal contact with our customers," he added that the signs will be particularly helpful at retail chains "where they don't necessarily get to talk to somebody."

Brevard County and almost every local city and town had June 1 to Sept. 30 rainy-season fertilizer bans in effect by the summer of 2013. The local ordinances also require slow-release nitrogen and share other similar provisions, but differ in the buffers required when fertilizing near waters.

It's uncertain how effective the bans have been in reducing fertilizer runoff to the lagoon.

But, in the first summer the widespread bans took effect in Brevard County, manufacturers distributed almost two-thirds less fertilizer in the county during peak summer months.

More:Brevard officials propose new rules for fertilizer retailers, other regulations to help lagoon

More:County commissioners support measure requiring retailers to post fertilizer rules

According to county officials, excess fertilizer use continues to contribute to water quality problems and harmful algal blooms in the Indian River Lagoon.

Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department Director Virginia Barker told county commissioners that other Florida counties and cities that have required fertilizer retailers to post such sign have found increased compliance with the fertilizer regulations.

Among the jurisdictions that have have adopted sign requirements are Alachua, Martin, Orange and St. Lucie counties, as well as the cities of Jupiter and Marco Island.

Barker said retailers who violate Brevard's new sign measure would face a maximum fine of $500, but she emphasized that first-time violators likely would receive a warning.

The sign rule will affect retailers in both unincorporated and incorporated areas of Brevard. But Brevard's 16 cities and towns would be able to opt out by adopting their own requirements.

The county will supply the signs to retailers. Funding will come from Brevard County's voter-approved half-percent sales tax targeted for Indian River Lagoon restoration projects.

There is a $125,000 allocation in the plan for use of that tax that is set aside for fertilizer education and outreach, including working with retailers. The budget will cover the cost of sign development, printing and distribution.

County Commissioner John Tobia voted against mandating that retailers post the informational signs. Tobia has said he is against mandates on private businesses. 

Tobia favored an alternative plan, under which the county would produce the signs and offer them to retailers, but compliance by retailers to display the signs would be voluntary.

More:Water quality targeted by Lee 20/20 land buys and fertilizer education campaign

Leesa Souto, executive director of the nonprofit Marine Resources Council, said she supports the new county sign rule for fertilizer.

"They wisely saw that this was something that other people were able to do at point-of-sale successfully," Souto said.

A 2011 study found residential fertilizer use was the second-largest contributor of nitrogen to coastal waters, behind sewage.

But several years after the county's rainy-season fertilizer restriction took effect, it's unclear how much nitrogen and phosphorus it reduced.

"We can definitely measure it," Souto said. "Nobody is."

Brevard County voters in 2016 voted to implement the lagoon sales tax for a 10-year period, starting in January 2017. The tax is projected to collect a total of $486 million during those 10 years.

Public education is one of a number of components of the 10-year plan for use of that money. Others include muck removal, wastewater treatment facility upgrades for reclaimed water, stormwater projects, sewer laterals, septic system removal, septic system upgrades, oyster bars and planted shorelines, rapid infiltration basin/spray field upgrades and project monitoring.

Dave Berman is government editor at FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649

or dberman@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @bydaveberman

Facebook:  /dave.berman.54

Support local journalism:  It you would like to read more news about the environment and county government, and you are not a subscriber, please consider subscribing. For details, go to floridatoday.com/subscribe.