Rick Patrick: Greene Publishing, Inc.
During the regular meeting of the Madison County Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday, May 24, the Commissioners considered an upcoming ordinance regarding the application of fertilizer on residential lawns, golf courses, etc. According to County Attorney Tom Reeves, the county is required to enact an ordinance because of the presence of Blue Springs in the county. The ordinance must be adopted before Saturday, July 1. The ordinance is an attempt to limit the amount of nutrients washing off and causing problems with an over-abundance of vegetation such as algae and hydrilla in bodies of water such as Blue Springs and Cherry Lake. “Over-application [of fertilizer] is the problem,” said Reeves. The proposed ordinance is based on a “model ordinance” provided by the state to be used as a “minimum.” Exempt from the ordinance would be farm operations, agricultural lands, and livestock grazing areas. The ordinance would primarily target individual home owners with lawns, institutional operations such as golf courses, etc. The ordinance would only apply to unincorporated parts of the county. The ordinance would prohibit application of fertilizer during prohibited periods of expected heavy rain (two inches of rain within a 24 hour period), during tropical storms and hurricanes, etc. The proposed ordinance also limits the distance from a body of water where fertilizer can be applied. The ordinance also prohibits the application of fertilizer to freshly planted lawns. Homeowners must wait 30 days after laying sod or planting a lawn to apply fertilizer. A public hearing for the proposed ordinance is scheduled to take place during the regular meeting of the Board of Madison County Commissioners on Wednesday, June 14, at 9 a.m.
In other business, the Board voted to accept the consent agenda. The only item on the consent agenda was a budget amendment request from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office to amend to actuals.
A public hearing took place on an ordinance to amend land development codes to remove halfway housing from allowable use in institutional and add to special exception use in institutional and to add agricultural processing to special exceptions in agricultural one and agricultural two. There was no public input and the ordinance was passed.
Barney Bennette from the Florida Department of Transportation presented a five-year plan of road construction projects for Madison County.
Phyllis Williams from the Madison County Chamber of Commerce addressed the Board regarding a Tourist Development Council expenditure of $7,500 for new website development. The Board voted to approve the expenditure. The Chamber will absorb the monthly maintenance fee for the website.
The Board approved Kim Albritton as the new Administrator for the Madison County Health Department. The current Administrator, Jennifer Johnson has accepted a job offer with the central office of the State Department of Health.
The next meeting of the Board will take place on Wednesday, June 14, at 9 a.m., in the Board meeting room at the courthouse annex, located at 229 SW Pinckney St., in Madison. Due to a scheduling conflict, the June 28 meeting of the Board was cancelled. The July 12 meeting was also cancelled.