Politics & Government

Trustees Consider Pesticide-Free Lawn Care for Village Parks

With $20,000 budgeted, the board will consider a plan for aeration and composting in public parks at Monday's Village Board meeting.

Village Trustees will consider implementing a pesticide-free turf care program in public parks at Monday's Village Board meeting.

Last year, residents came before the board with concerns about pesticides in the parks. As a pilot program, the board agreed not to spray pesticides on and Parks last summer and budgeted $20,000 this year for a pesticide-free turf care program.

At the request of the board, the Environmental Advisory Commission is now recommending a comprehensive plan that would consist of aerating, spraying compost tea, adding nutrients to the soil and keeping the turf at least 4 inches long in those parks, as well as other turf care modifications in Buckley Park and Schoolhouse Park.

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"This program includes more aeration than has ever been done in the village," said EAC member Melanie Ariens. "That is a key to increasing turf health, especially in the (Cahill Park) square, where there is soccer, or in Klode, where the ice rink is. That would allow grass to grow there instead of dirt and weeds."

The Department of Public Works doesn’t do any lawn maintenance other than mowing, Village Engineer Dan Naze said. The EAC is recommending the natural turf care be performed mostly by Darrell Smith of Earthcare Natural Lawn and Landscapes, who developed the recommendations.

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Trustees discussed the recommendations of the Environmental Advisory Commission at the May 2 board meeting, but the matter was not scheduled for action.

At that meeting, some trustees questioned if the natural lawn care methods would eliminate weeds. Village President Julie Siegel said she received a lot of phone calls about weeds in Cahill and Klode Parks during the pilot program last summer.

The EAC found several benefits to natural turf care over the last year, and those findings were distributed to the board. In addition to eliminating the public health risks associated with pesticides, the aerated turf included in the program would create softer ground that could soak up more water and aid with storm water infiltration. The softer, aerated ground would also decrease the likelihood of injury for sports teams that use the parks.

The Whitefish Bay School District is developing a pesticide-free maintenance plan for Cahill Park, and the EAC recommends the village open discussions with the school district to coordinate work at the park, which is partly owned by the village. The turf care program includes $2,097 for natural turf care on the playground, parking and tennis areas owned by the village.

The park area in need of the most aeration is Klode Park, Smith said. The estimated modifications would require $12,230 to implement across 300,000 square feet of space in the park. , which has the healthiest turf in the village, would require fewer improvements, costing $2,815. The suggested improvements would cost $1,240 at Schoolhouse Park, across from the .

The commission recommends the Village Board undertake a pilot program for natural turf care in road medians this year. The proposed plan calls for $1,605 in improvements to the median on Santa Monica Boulevard. If the program yields benefits after one year on the chosen median, the board could consider expanding the program to other medians on Hampton Avenue, Lexington Avenue and Cumberland Boulevard.

Trustee Kevin Buckley, the board’s representative on the EAC, said he supports the commission’s plan.

“While this new lawn maintenance was spawned from a desire to reduce pesticide usage, after years of not performing any sort of lawn care, improving the soil and planting a few billion seeds of grass will have lasting benefits,” he said.  “We budgeted and taxed for this purpose in 2010."


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