Halifax grapples with lawn order issue

Pesticide bylaw may be hard to enforce

Halifax's ban on residential pesticides and herbicides will be phased in over the next four years. (Mike Harvey / Herald Photo )

Halifax Regional Municipality won't use yard police or random grass testing to enforce its new lawn-chemical bylaw, a senior staffer said Wednesday.

Municipal solicitor Wayne Anstey said city hall will act on complaints and rely on witnesses and evidence to try to catch offenders.

Though he said the municipality "would not be actively patrolling" residential neighbourhoods, the bylaw could pit one neighbour against another.

"If a neighbour, for example, saw someone come out with a bag of (lawn chemicals) and dump it into a spreader and then start walking up and down the lawn . . . then that would be pretty good evidence of the fact that a person was putting a pesticide on the lawn," Mr. Anstey said.

"And if the (bylaw enforcement) officer then went to the residence and found the bag, from that they could" collect physical evidence and pursue a prosecution, he said.

Bylaw officers can issue violators a $100 ticket, Mr. Anstey said, or take more serious cases to court. The maximum fine is $2,000 or 30 days in jail.

Halifax regional council voted 17-6 Tuesday night to phase out lawn chemicals by April 2003. Mr. Anstey said the new rules are not in place yet because the bylaw must go through second reading at council on Aug. 15 and then be announced in local advertisements.

The law should be in effect by Aug. 19, but council has acknowledged it won't be easy to crack down on sprayers.

"We would be faced with the same difficulties as we are with respect to a lot of violations," said Mr. Anstey, referring to evidence-gathering challenges and counting on the testimony of witnesses.

"We would not be doing any chemical testing (on lawns) or that sort of thing."

Other details of Bylaw P-800, which regulates the use of pesticides, herbicides and insecticides:

An immediate ban on spraying on municipally owned property, a policy now in place. - A public education program about the new rules to be developed by city hall staffers and implemented in the future. - In April 2001, a registration system will allow people with chemical sensitivities to identify their homes to HRM so neighbours can't spray within 50 metres of them. Chemically sensitive people will need to send letters from two doctors to city hall. - Also by April 2001, there's to be a 50-metre pesticide ban around schools, hospitals, churches, day-care centres, playgrounds and other public areas. - In April 2003, a complete ban on lawn chemicals on residential properties. Not all spraying will be outlawed. Exceptions may be made "to control or destroy plants or insects (if they) constituted a danger for human beings" or to destroy insects that have infested a property.

Three public hearings on the controversial issue were held before Tuesday's council vote.

Bylaw supporter Maureen Reynolds of Real Alternatives to Toxins in the Environment has addressed councillors twice.

She said people who use lawn chemicals will have healthier yards once the rules are in place.

"You have to start with a good topsoil, of course," Ms. Reynolds said. "You fertilize it, you water it deeply but not too often, to make sure the roots grow deep."

She said when a herbicide is applied to grass "it shortens the root . . . and as soon as you get to a dry spell, the grass is in trouble."

The group's Web site says grass should be mowed weekly but not cut too short. Grass clippings need not be removed since "they will feed and nourish the lawn for free," it says.

Wayne Sloane, owner of Bedford's Emerald Lawns, said the spraying controversy has hurt his five-year-old business.

"Right now, the customers I have want pesticides," he said Wednesday. "There's nothing that I have as an alternative for weed or insect control."

Mr. Sloane said his lawn is pesticide-free and he's using it as an experiment to see if his small business can also go that way.

"It's already affecting my customers," he said of the spraying debate. "I'm getting questioned all the time about pesticides."

Mr. Anstey said people may first notice the effect of the bylaw next April, when the 50-metre zone around those with chemical sensitivities and public places is enforced.

He said spraying can still occur outside either exclusion zone for about another three years.

"If nobody within 50 metres of you registers their property with (the municipality) . . . or you're not within 50 metres of these public facilities, then you can continue to use them up until 2003."