Planning board member presents draft to bar commercial use of synthetic pesticides

Susan, a planning board member, presented a proposed ordinance that would prohibit commercial application of synthetic pesticides and herbicides across the island while allowing homeowners to use or hire services that apply those chemicals. "The wording is pretty clear in here allowing that homeowner is allowed to use what they want to use and to hire who they want to hire," she said.

The draft includes an emergency‑use exception for public‑health responses and, in Susan's amended language, explicitly preserves homeowner use; she said she amended the initial draft after a pest‑control firm (Terminex) warned the original wording could inadvertently bar homeowner pest control. Susan also said she had sought input from a local organic farmer, Kyle Petro, who raised no objections to her changes.

Board members discussed scope and enforcement questions. The group asked whether the prohibition should be a standalone ordinance or incorporated into the town's land‑use code; members suggested it should at minimum appear in the shoreland ordinance if not in a combined land‑use document so shoreline protections are explicit. Members also recommended briefing and partnering with the Conservation Commission to provide public education materials ahead of any warrant vote.

Susan proposed circulating an electronic version for "word‑smithing" and suggested following the town‑meeting process if the board advances the item to the select board and warrant. The board agreed she would distribute a digital draft for edits and that staff and members would prepare language and public‑engagement steps for future meetings.

The board did not vote on the ordinance tonight. Instead, members requested follow‑up work (legal review, map/coverage clarity for commercial exceptions such as utility right‑of‑ways and preserves, and a plan for a summer public workshop) before any formal recommendation to the select board or a town‑meeting warrant vote. The item will be revisited once members have circulated edited drafts and gathered feedback from the Conservation Commission and legal advisers.