The grass may not be growing yet, but one lawn-care business already has decided to pull out of Ulster County due to the county's new mandatory pesticide notification law, which took effect Jan. 1.
Lawns of Kingston and Poughkeepsie may want to shorten its name now that it's decided to leave its more than 200 customers in Kingston, Hurley, Saugerties and Woodstock to avoid the county's notification requirements.
County lawmakers in December opted into a state law that requires commercial applicators to send 48-hour written notification to abutting neighbors for most spray pesticide use. It also requires retail businesses to post warning signs and homeowners to mark off treated areas larger than 100 square feet. The county Health Department is responsible for enforcement, and consequences include fines and criminal sanctions.
Roger Jenkins, who owns the Clintondale-based Lawns of Kingston and Poughkeepsie with his sons, Marc and Darrell, said the law discriminates against commercial applicators and leaves too many loopholes for trouble.
"We feel convinced it is impossible to comply with the onerous logistics involved, make our timely applications on schedule and still operate legally without the daily fear of being fined out of existence," Jenkins wrote to customers earlier this month. "So, after 35 years of servicing thousands of lawns in this county, it is with great sadness that we leave you and several hundred other clients."
Craig Artist, who owns and operates a Lawn Doctor franchise in Ulster County and parts of Dutchess, Greene and Columbia counties, has hired extra technicians and purchased another truck for the influx of new customers, but he was upset to hear of the Jenkinses' decision to leave.
"They were our very good competitor and a nice group of guys," Artist said. "This just shows what a devastating effect a law like this can have on the small business owners."
Artist, also a town of Ulster councilman, said he may have to switch to blanketing lawns with granular applications, which are exempt from the notification law. He said the reality of the situation will hit in the next four to five weeks.
Tracey Bartels, a non-enrolled county legislator from Gardiner, was sorry to hear Lawns of Kingston was pulling out, but she said the new law is part of a "more holistic step toward protecting the citizens of Ulster County by supplying information."
Bartels has been working with Artist to try to create a smooth transition from the county's previous voluntary notification registry, which failed largely due to lack of exposure.
"I think we're all on the same page this first year - that because our focus is on education, it's not (on) ticketing and punishment," Bartels said. "The idea of someone pulling out before even seeing how it works for them just seems a little crazy to me if not stubborn. Laws like this tend to start and balloon. We're not on the cutting edge of this by any means, but more of the state is protected by it than not, so as more counties have experience with it, more will adopt it. If Dutchess gets it as well, will they just stop spraying?"
Jenkins and his family service about 400 lawns in Dutchess County. He said if mandatory notification is implemented there, "we will probably have to try to comply."
Dutchess County Legislature Chairman Gary Cooper, R-Pine Plains, said the measure was voted down during the past year and that he doesn't see it on the horizon, but he wouldn't be surprised if it's brought up again in a year's time.