Winnetka now has a working ban on phosphorus-containing fertilizer, after village council members who met March 21 approved a reworked ordinance.
The ban, which was first introduced in January, was to have been passed by the council last month. Trustees postponed their approval to allow village and Winnetka Park District officials to work out language allowing the district to use fertilizers with phosphorus under certain conditions.
District director Robert Smith said in February that district golf course and athletic fields occasionally need such fertilizers: in the spring and fall to stimulate growth, and to replenish natural phosphorus if it runs too low in the soil.
Under the revamped language, which trustees got their first look at on March 7, the park district must test soils before using phosphorus fertilizers to ensure that the soil actually needs it. The district must also keep records of when it uses the fertilizers and must ensure that applicators have the necessary state licenses, according to the language the council passed March 21.
Trustee Kristin Ziv on March 7 said she wasn’t comfortable with exempting the golf course from phosphorus restrictions and that all property owners needed to be treated equally. But she said March 21 that she was now willing to support the amended language.
Ziv said she did some personal research and also talked with the head of the village’s environmental and forestry commission before changing her mind: “This provides for strict guidelines, and we’re asking residents to do this on a smaller scale.”
More Top Picks Best Electric Pole Saws
Ziv said she would like the council to review the ordinance in a year to measure the amount of phosphorus in water runoffs at that point, compared to measurements that have been taken more recently.
Trustee Chris Rintz said that most fertilizers available on the retail market no longer contain phosphorus. He also said that measuring phosphorus in Winnetka’s water runoff should be possible, since doing so is crucial to the village’s hopes of storing stormwater on Cook County Forest Preserve land. Forest preserve officials want assurances that such water would be as clear as possible of pollutants, he said.
“The good news is that we will have ongoing data, probably annually,” he said.
Some levels of phosphorus, which occurs in nature, are necessary for plant life, Public Works Director Steve Saunders told village trustees when the ordinance was introduced in January. Too much phosphorus running into rivers and lakes can degrade water quality by spurring algae growth, he said at the time. That cuts down on oxygen in the water and eventually degrades aquatic biodiversity, he said.
The village council was due to adopt the new ordinance Feb. 7, but delayed the vote on the park district’s request.
A current state law governing the use of phosphorus fertilizers exempts park districts from the Illinois ban, Saunders said. In addition to the amendments made for the park district, the Winnetka ban also has some exceptions for residents. People can use phosphorus-containing fertilizer on newly installed lawns, in vegetable gardens, or in areas where the chemical doesn’t naturally occur at high enough levels, according to the ordinance language.
Saunders brought revamped language that took park district concerns into consideration back to the council March 7, but trustees wanted to clarify language defining waterways in the proposal. That went back to the park district one more time. Saunders told trustees March 21 that the district agreed with the final language amendments.
Trustee Andrew Cripe said he hoped information on the fertilizer ban could be publicized at Village Hall and at area hardware stores, where people might be getting their fertilizers.
Ziv noted that residents could test their soils before using any phosphorus-containing fertilizers: “Soil test kits are available at Lowes for about $12. I’d like everybody to know, so that if they feel the need to use (fertilizers with phosphorus), they should measure first.”
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy