Appeals Court Rules Nassau County, N.Y. Can Require Neighbor Notification

Legal challenges by lawn care firms had blocked implementation of the controversial state pesticide notification law, passed in August 2000, that took effect in March in Suffolk, Westchester and Albany counties. The law requires commercial pesticide applicators to give 48 hours notice to anyone living within 150 feet before spraying lawns, trees or gardens.

Despite being passed as a statewide law, it only applies in counties that choose to adopt it "as is," barring counties from making modifications. Suffolk, Nassau, Westchester and Albany Counties are the only New York counties to adopt the law thus far, and legal challenges are pending in three of the four counties.

A three-judge panel in the appeals court did not explain its reasoning in its one-paragraph order, issued July 27, pending a final decision by the court that probably won't come until mid-2002, lawyers told Newsday.

Nassau officials will immediately start enforcing the rules, including seeking fines against violators. A lawyer for several area lawn care companies challenging the law, told Newsday the court ruling "throws the industry into chaos" during its busiest time of year.

"This is going to create real problems for the Nassau County landscapers," attorney Fred Eisenbud of Melville, told Newsday. "Some of the harms we predicted are going to come to fruition," he said, adding that the firms will continue to pursue the legal case in hopes of invalidating the law before next summer.

The advance notice requirement is actually environmentally harmful, argue LCOs using pesticides, because it discourages firms from making on-the-spot decisions about whether spraying is really needed. They also say the advance notice encourages spraying by untrained homeowners instead of professionals because property owners who do their own spraying are exempt from the 48-hour notice requirement.

Property owners do have to post warning signs if they spray more than 100 square feet of their land and get a warning and educational materials for a first offense. Lawn and tree care companies, however, can be fined up to $5,000.

Because many horticultural oils, soaps and biopesticides and granular pesticides are exempt from the notice rules, advocates for the law say it encourages companies to use safer compounds.

State Supreme Court Justice Stephen Bucaria ruled in April that the county should have conducted an environmental impact statement before approving the local law implementing the state's rules (see Final Neighbor Notification Ruling Handed Down In Nassau County). However, the appeals court decision has overturned Bucaria’s ruling, reinstating the Nassau law until the appellate judges decide the case.

Additionally, judges in Suffolk and Westchester had rejected Bucaria’s argument in similar lawsuits filed by lawn and tree care companies.

For more information in Nassau County call 516/571-2289. For more information in Suffolk County call 631/853-2250.

For more information about the law visit www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dshm/pesticid/neighbor.htm.