Tree and lawn care companies throughout New York are in a tug-of-war battle with legislators over laws that require them to notify residents when they’re spraying pesticides in their neighborhood.
The laws are intended to prevent families from being unknowingly exposed to pesticides. But companies affected by the laws say they’re being unfairly targeted and that the restrictions are hurting business.
“It’s a nightmare,” says Richard Stedman, owner, Wright-Frontier Tree Care, Buffalo, N.Y. “It makes it very hard to keep a good, tight schedule and reduces your effectiveness because your timing isn’t perfect. I can’t just show up anymore and treat it.”
In Erie County, N.Y., where Stedman works, the law has expired and will not go back into effect until 2006 because lawmakers there did not meet the required deadline to approve the law’s extension, according to a Buffalo News report. The law requires that applicators provide 48-hour written notice to neighbors within 150 feet of most spray applications.
The law, which was originally passed in December 2003, has cost Stedman time and money, he says. Stedman estimates that he spent $450 in postage to notify residents and that he made several return visits because he couldn’t make on-the-spot applications.
He also notes that the notification laws have all but eliminated integrated pest management (IPM) programs, which are considered by many industry professionals as a more environmentally sound approach.
“What we end up doing is more broadcast applications and kill everything because I don’t want to come back,” Stedman says. “Because if I have to return, I have to send out another set of postcards to neighbors, and your service call price just jumped up. It takes away your ability to pinpoint applications, basically killing IPM.”
For more recent stories on neighbor notification laws, please visit the following links: