PlantAmerica – The Landscape Network

There’s something going in parts of New York State that may have a ripple effect through the lawn care industry and beyond. It is called the Neighbor Notification Law and is commonly referred to as the 48 Hour Notification Law.

The Neighbor Notification Law of 2000 added new provisions to Title 10 of Article 33 of the Environmental Conservation Law in New York regarding posting of visual notification markers for residential lawn applications, posting of signs at certain retail establishments, and mandating neighbor notification of certain commercial lawn applications. The Neighbor Notification Law as it applies to commercial or residential lawn care is currently only in effect in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and Albany Counties in New York State, that have adopted a local law to “opt into” the Neighbor Notification Law. This Law became effective on March 1, 2001. This law requires that commercial lawn applicators involved give 48 hour written notice to any abutting properties or other properties, which have a property boundary within 150 feet of the lawn pesticide application site. So how can Pesticide Applicators comply with the Neighbor Notification Law? The Department of Environmental Conservation in New York State has compiled a list of products that are legal for certified applicators or technicians to use that would be exempt from the Neighbor Notification Law. This list includes reduced risk pesticides, biological pesticides and other minimum risk products. Retailers need to comply with the Neighbor Notification Law. Any retailer that sells general use pesticides labeled for commercial or residential lawn application uses must post in a conspicuous place as close as possible to each display location of such pesticides that require the informational signage mandated by the Neighbor Notification Law. Trade associations in New York State are approaching this Neighbor Notification Law in various ways. In an effort to be proactive, some Associations have put together educational packets for their members. These packets include extensive lists of acceptable products that are exempt from the Neighbor Notification Law, how retailers and commercial applicators can comply. Many are kept inform through their newsletters and websites.

To see the law for your self, visit www.nysnla.org and go the members section and you will be directed to the appropriate link.

While this is affecting a relatively minor part of the overall industry, it will make news and other states may pick up on the idea, too. Understanding the law and how you and your industry should be prepared to respond to it (and to see it coming into legislation in your state) might well be worth your while.

We asked a few people associated with the industry their thoughts:

Mark Rupprecht, Executive Director New York State Nursery and Landscape Association –

“We are very concerned about this law. In particular, how it will impact Integrated Pest Management. It will force some procedural changes on the industry. For example, if you have a pest application you usually use which may be less harmful or biological but takes longer, if you have to go through all the trouble of doing the 48 notification, you’re probably going to use something that makes sure the job gets done. And a lot of businesses do pest management as a small portion of their work and they will probably just drop it all together which means more homeowners will be doing it and increase the likelihood of over application or the use of the wrong product. IN brief, this law is bad for the environment.

We favor notification. But we think it ought to be done through a registry which is a proven and successful method that is working in eleven other states.”

Fred Langley, Manager of State Government Relations for Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment (RISE) –

“This is a burdensome law and it is very confusing. Though it is a state law, one of the stipulations is that is has to be adopted on a county-by-county basis. The problem is, once a county adopts the law, there is no system of informing or educating the people it will impact. Usually when a law like this is passed, there is already an infrastructure to help the community comply. Now you have a regulated community without the tools or knowledge to follow the regulations. In addition, there is no uniform enforcement policy or mechanism. And there really aren’t any standards. It places an enormous burden on small businesses.”

When asked how this might have a ripple effect, Langley said,” Whenever an activist group that is resistant to the use of pesticides succeeds in pushing through this kind of regulation, it get networked very rapidly and nationally. These groups are very well connected. I’ve heard rumblings of similar legislation in New Jersey and Maryland already.”

Anthony Bedell, Director of Legislative Affairs for ANLA

– Though Bedell focuses his work on national legislative issues, we asked how he thought this might impact other states, Bedell replied, “These kind of issues have a tendency to be regional. I don’t think it will go national or if it does it will take time. It also depends on how strong each state association is. If they have a healthy and mobilized organization, these things can usually be stopped. So the best advice is that if you do have a lobbyist, make sure they monitor this so you can act swiftly and if your state association doesn’t have a lobbyist then you need to explore how you keep abreast of any such new legislation being proposed.”