10/20/2014 Annual Town Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Article 13 To see if the Town will vote to amend the General Bylaws as follows: Add the following Chapter: CHAPTER 107—MASHPEE NITROGEN CONTROL BYLAW §107-1. Purpose A Town Bylaw to conserve valuable waterways and other resources that increase our property values, that protect our unique environment vital to our economy, and that reduce the financial burden on taxpayers and property owners by regulating the outdoor application of nitrogen on turf. The regulation of nitrogen applications will reduce the overall amount of excess nitrogen entering the town's Resource Areas as defined in The Mashpee Wetlands Protection Bylaw (Chapter 172; Section 2) and Regulations. Reducing excess nitrogen helps protect and improve the water quality of Mashpee's two valuable estuaries Waquoit Bay and Popponesset Bay and their associated bays, coves and waterways; as well as Mashpee's many ponds and streams. This Town Bylaw is also critical to reducing Mashpee's Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) of nitrogen. Mashpee is presently in violation of the Clean Water Act because of excess nitrogen entering the town's estuaries. The Cape Cod Commission has estimated that reducing nitrogen from outdoor lawn applications to coastal estuaries and embayments by fifty percent (50%) could save the taxpayers of Mashpee $40 million dollars in sewering and other wastewater treatment expenses. Scientifically we know this can be done without affecting the quality of turf in Mashpee. §107-2. Applicability This Bylaw shall apply to and regulate any and all applications of nitrogen through fertilizer on managed turf areas within the Town of Mashpee. §107-3. Definitions "Agriculture" includes farming in all its branches, generally as the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing and harvesting of any agricultural, floricultural, viticultural or horticultural commodities, and shefishing, including preparations and delivery to storage or to market or to carvers for transportation to market. "Best Management Practices" (BMP), means a sequence of activities designed to limit a nonpoint pollution source. For the purposes of this By-law, BMP means the most current edition of"Best Management Practices for Soil and Nutrient Management in Turf Systems,"prepared by University of Massachusetts Extension, Center for Agriculture, Turf Program. "Certified Fertilizer Applicator" means a person certified by the Cape Cod Commission, Cape Cod Cooperative Extension, or town of Mashpee departments, or any combination thereof, to apply fertilizer and manage turf in conformance with the BMP. "Compost" or "organic Compost" means the biologically stable, humus-like material derived from composting or the aerobic, thermophilic decomposition of organic matter. 8