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Mashpee Nitrogen Control Bylaw (with revisions of 7/3/14) <br /> 1. Purpose <br /> A Town Bylaw to conserve valuable waterways and other resources that increase our property values, <br /> that protect our unique environment vital to our economy, and that reduce the financial burden on <br /> taxpayers and property owners by regulating the outdoor application of nitrogen on turf. The regulation <br /> of nitrogen applications will reduce the overall amount of excess nitrogen entering the town's <br /> Resource Areas as defined in The Mashpee Wetlands Protection Bylaw (Chapter 172; Section 2) and <br /> Regulations. Reducing excess nitrogen helps protect and improve the water quality of Mashpee's two <br /> valuable estuaries—Waquoit Bay and Popponesset Bay—and their associated bays, coves and <br /> waterways; as well as Mashpee's many ponds and streams. <br /> This Town Bylaw is also critical to reducing Mashpee's Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) of <br /> nitrogen. Mashpee is presently in violation of the Clean Water Act because of excess nitrogen entering <br /> the town's estuaries. The Cape Cod Commission has estimated that reducing nitrogen from outdoor <br /> lawn applications to coastal estuaries and embayments by fifty percent (50%) could save the taxpayers <br /> of Mashpee $40 million dollars in sewering and other wastewater treatment expenses. Scientifically <br /> we know this can be done without affecting the quality of turf in Mashpee. <br /> 2. Applicability <br /> This Bylaw shall apply to and regulate any and all applications of nitrogen through fertilizer on <br /> managed turf areas within the Town of Mashpee. <br /> 3. Definitions <br /> "Agriculture" includes farming in all its branches, generally as the cultivation and tillage of the soil, <br /> dairying, the production, cultivation, growing and harvesting of any agricultural, floricultural, <br /> viticultural or horticultural commodities, and shellfishing, including preparations and delivery to <br /> storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to market. <br /> "Best Management Practices" (BMP), means a sequence of activities designed to limit a nonpoint <br /> pollution source. For the purposes of this By-law, BMP means the most current edition of "Best <br /> Management Practices for Soil and Nutrient Management in Turf Systems," prepared by University of <br /> Massachusetts Extension, Center for Agriculture, Turf Program. <br /> "Certified Fertilizer Applicator" means a person certified by the Cape Cod Commission, Cape Cod <br /> Cooperative Extension, or town of Mashpee departments, or any combination thereof, to apply <br /> fertilizer and manage turf in conformance with the BMP. <br /> "Compost" or "Organic Compost" means the biologically stable, humus-like material derived from <br /> composting or the aerobic, thermophilic decomposition of organic matter. <br /> "Fertilizer" means a substance that enriches the soil with elements essential for plant growth, such as <br /> nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium or other substances; fertilizer does not include those nutrients that are <br /> normally excluded from fertilizer such as chemicals that are part of horticultural gypsum, dolomite, <br /> limestone, lime, Jersey greensand, grass clippings, or compost topdressing; compost tea and liquid <br />