On September 11, 2019, the Mayor and the City Commission referred this discussion to the Sustainability and Resiliency Committee (SRC), which has been merged and renamed the Land Use and Sustainability Committee. The item was sponsored by Commissioner Ricky Arriola. It was initially scheduled to be heard on October 23, 2019 and was deferred to the December 18, 2019 SRC meeting. Given that the SRC did not meet in December, this item is now being brought forth for discussion.

Florida-Friendly Landscaping standards are best practices that protect the environment and human health by considering and capitalizing on local conditions in designing and maintaining landscaping. Examples of Florida-Friendly Landscaping practices include the use of site-adapted (i.e., salt tolerant and native) plants, efficient watering methods, appropriate fertilization, and least-toxic or non-toxic products.

The Parks and Recreation Department and the Public Works, Greenspace Management Division currently apply Florida-Friendly Landscaping principles on public properties. In 2017, the City Commission furthered these efforts by passing a resolution incorporating Best Management Practices for landscaping by including the use of the Florida-Friendly Landscaping Guide to Plant Selection and Landscape Design when redeveloping City parks and City-owned lands. Additionally, all City landscaping contractors are required to follow industry practices and standards found in the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s “Florida-Friendly Best Management Practices for Protection of Water Resources by the Green Industries”. Commercial landscapers operating on private property are not currently required to abide by these standards.

At the September 25, 2019 SRC meeting, the Committee referred a draft fertilizer ordinance that limits fertilizer use on public and private property and establishes training requirements for commercial and institutional applicators of fertilizer within Miami Beach. As part of the training requirements established in the draft fertilizer ordinance, all commercial and institutional applicators of fertilizer are required to successfully complete the six-hour training program on “Florida-Friendly Best Management Practices for Protection of Water Resources by the Green Industries” offered by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection through the University of Florida Extension “Florida Friendly Landscapes” program.

The First reading of the draft fertilizer ordinance was heard and passed at the November Commission meeting. However, in between First and Second reading, City staff identified previously unforeseen challenges with enforcing the provisions of the ordinance at the city-level, particularly with the use of the city’s Business Tax Receipt (BTR) process for verifying compliance. One such challenge is that landscapers can operate within Miami Beach without a Miami Beach BTR if they are licensed by Miami-Dade County.

Upon further discussion, City staff recommends working with Miami-Dade County to develop a county-wide ban that meets the goals of the city’s draft fertilizer ordinance. In addition to overcoming the enforcement challenges faced by a municipal ordinance, a county-wide ban is an important move toward improving the health of Biscayne Bay because it will reduce nutrient loads from fertilizer use across the entire watershed. On September 9, 2019, City staff presented before the County’s Biscayne Bay Task Force on local pollution prevention initiatives, such as Plastic Free MB, and recommended that these activities be expanded county-wide for maximum impact. The draft fertilizer ordinance presents an opportunity to leverage regional action by enacting the ban countywide.