Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: January 26, 2010 7:00 PM
Vernon residents will still be able to use pesticides to control weeds on their own property. On Monday, city council agreed to reduce cosmetic pesticide applications on its own land, but a proposed residential ban in 2012 was scrapped. “It’s private property we were talking about there and we couldn’t enforce it,” said Coun. Mary-Jo O’Keefe, who made the motion not to prohibit use in residential yards. Similar views also came from the rest of O’Keefe’s colleagues. “How do you make people do this — hire the bylaw police?” said Coun. Jack Gilroy. Mayor Wayne Lippert insisted that having a bylaw that isn’t enforced would undermine the city’s credibility. “There are too many loopholes for people to get through it,” he said.
Council also decided to avoid a residential ban now because the provincial government is currently reviewing legislation on cosmetic pesticides. “By then we’ll have a direction from the province and it will be easier for us to do,” said O’Keefe of enforcement. As part of council’s decision, city staff has been instructed to develop a program that educates the public about cosmetic pesticide use. Coun. Buffy Baumbrough, chair of the environmental advisory committee and a cosmetic pesticide bylaw advocate, was absent Monday.
No comments:
Post a Comment