The purpose of this article is to regulate the outdoor application
of fertilizer so as to reduce the overall amount of excess nutrients
entering waterways, thereby helping to protect and improve surface
water quality. This article does not apply to fertilizer application
on commercial farms.
No person may do any of the following:
A. Apply fertilizer when a runoff-producing rainfall is occurring or
predicted within the next 12 hours by the National Weather Service
and/or when soils are saturated and a potential for fertilizer movement
off site exists.
B. Apply fertilizer to an impervious surface. Fertilizer inadvertently
applied to an impervious surface must be swept or blown back into
the target surface or returned to either its original or another appropriate
container for reuse.
C. Apply fertilizer within the ten-foot buffer of any water body.
D. Apply fertilizer within 10 to 25 feet of any water body unless application
is completed by using a drop spreader only.
E. Apply fertilizer more than 15 days prior to the start of or at any
time after the end of the recognized growing season for USDA Plant
Hardiness Zone 6. USDA Plant Hardiness Zones mapping can be found
in The Standards for Soil Erosion and Sediment Control in New Jersey,
July 1999. The growing seasons are identified as follows: Zones 5b
and 6a (northwestern New Jersey): March 15 to October 31; Zone 6b
(northeastern, central and part of southern New Jersey): March 1 to
November 15; Zones 7a and 7b (Atlantic Coastal area and southwestern
New Jersey): February 1 to November 30. (Refer to USDA Plant Hardiness
Zone mapping for more information).
This article shall be enforced by the Department of Administration,
Code Enforcement and Environmental Affairs and/or other municipal
officials of the Township of Montclair.
Any person who violates any provision of this article shall,
upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding $2,000,
imprisonment in the county/municipal jail for a term not exceeding
90 days, or a period of community service not exceeding 90 days, or
any combination thereof as determined by the Municipal Court Judge.
Each day on which a violation of an ordinance exists shall be considered
a separate and distinct violation and shall be subject to imposition
of a separate penalty for each day of the violation as the Municipal
Court Judge may determine.
Each section, subsection, sentence, clause and phrase of this
article is declared to be an independent section, subsection, sentence,
clause and phrase, and the finding or holding of any such portion
of this article to be unconstitutional, void, or ineffective for any
cause, or reason, shall not affect any other portion of this article.