(1) All county and municipal governments are encouraged to adopt and enforce the Model Ordinance for Florida-Friendly Fertilizer Use on Urban Landscapes or an equivalent requirement as a mechanism for protecting local surface and groundwater quality.
(2) Each county and municipal government located within the watershed of a water body or water segment that is listed as impaired by nutrients pursuant to s. 403.067, shall, at a minimum, adopt the department’s Model Ordinance for Florida-Friendly Fertilizer Use on Urban Landscapes. A local government may adopt additional or more stringent standards than the model ordinance if the following criteria are met:
(a) The local government has demonstrated, as part of a comprehensive program to address nonpoint sources of nutrient pollution which is science-based, and economically and technically feasible, that additional or more stringent standards than the model ordinance are necessary in order to adequately address urban fertilizer contributions to nonpoint source nutrient loading to a water body.
(b) The local government documents that it has considered all relevant scientific information, including input from the department, the institute, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, if provided, on the need for additional or more stringent provisions to address fertilizer use as a contributor to water quality degradation. All documentation must become part of the public record before adoption of the additional or more stringent criteria.
(3) Any county or municipal government that adopted its own fertilizer use ordinance before January 1, 2009, is exempt from this section. Ordinances adopted or amended on or after January 1, 2009, must substantively conform to the most recent version of the model fertilizer ordinance and are subject to subsections (1) and (2), as applicable.
(4) This section does not apply to the use of fertilizer on farm operations as defined in s. 823.14 or on lands classified as agricultural lands pursuant to s. 193.461.
History.—s. 4, ch. 2009-199; s. 16, ch. 2012-83; s. 8, ch. 2021-7.