Two years after revising Hernando County’s fertilizer ordinance, the Board of County Commissioners may again alter the timeframe in which use of urban turf fertilizers containing nitrogen is allowed.
At the BOCC meeting held on March 25, the commissioners heard a presentation by representatives from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Science, as well as the county’s utilities director Gordon Onderdonk.
The information and recommendations presented by Dr. J. Bryan Unruh and Dr. William Lester indicated that the use of those fertilizers should be allowed between early April and early October. The current county ordinance bans the fertilizers from Dec. 15-March 15 and June 1-Sept. 30.
“In 2023, to me personally, it felt very rushed. We didn’t have anybody from the scientific community from UF to actually present at that time,” Board Chairman Brian Hawkins said. “So there was a lot of emotion behind it and I think we made some mistakes. What I’m seeing now is that the winter ban makes sense. So we strengthen that, we do that and we make sense with that.
“The summer ban, on the other hand, is kind of where I’m at right now with bringing back to the table if it’s growing during that time period and this is UF’s recommendation for us to be fertilizing during that timeframe.”
Hawkins’ suggestion was to shift the winter ban from Oct. 15 to March 31. Commissioner Jerry Campbell advocated moving the start date to Oct. 1 for clearer public understanding. Hawkins and Commissioner Steve Champion were both in favor, providing a consensus to move forward with a public hearing.
“The clearer we can communicate and the easier it is to remember, the best chance we have of actually implementing it and for the residents following it,” Campbell said.
The other two commissioners, John Allocco and Ryan Amsler, questioned the source of funding for UF/IFAS and whether it might influence its research. UF/IFAS has come under fire in the past for recommending less restrictive ordinances supported by the fertilizer industry.
“I want to make sure that what we’re hearing from UF/IFAS and any of those studies, that we can be as commissioners and as residents who are living here, we can know that it’s not being funded by the people who benefit,” Allocco said.
Responding to Allocco’s questioning, Dr. Unruh assured that the studies he presented were funded by the Florida legislature and the EPA, adding, “From 2004-2012, if you look at my funding portfolio, not a dime came from a fertilizer company.”
Onderdonk also cautioned commissioners that changing the timeline of the fertilizer ban may benefit turf but could be detrimental to the springs. The potential for higher nitrogen levels could mean added cost in order to take necessary steps to meet environmental mandates, and Amsler used that as part of his discussion points.
“While the funding for these studies may be above board, it’s public knowledge that UF/IFAS has accepted, I think it’s at least $500,000 from Mosaic in the last five years,” said Amsler, referring to the Tampa-based company that mines phosphate for fertilizer. “I take their advice with a pretty large grain of salt. I have to side on the side of financially protecting our citizens with the information I have so far available.”
Campbell, in proposing Oct. 1 rather than Oct. 15 to start the fertilizer ban, noted that cutting back on those two weeks would help to alleviate the impacts of added nitrogen seeping into the ground.
“This is focusing on turf, we’re focusing on what’s making it to the waterways and our springs,” Campbell said. “But if you look at the data and the science, and you say this is when it’s the most beneficial and you shift that to the winter months, there’s only a one-month difference, give or take a couple days. I don’t see where it’s going to drastically change it into a negative.”
In another presentation to the BOCC, Onderdonk asked to add a construction coordinator position for the utilities department to help handle the increase in projects around the county.
“We’ve got in the next five years roughly $230 million capital improvements we’re doing, just to meet the growth in addition to all of the developments that come on,” Onderdonk said. “We’re going to be putting millions and millions of dollars of utility infrastructure in the ground. It’s absolutely critical that we’re there to make sure it goes in correctly because when it doesn’t, it costs us even more money to come back and try to fix it.”
Four of the five commissioners approved the position, with Champion dissenting only because he first wanted to see results from a county-wide audit before making a final decision.
