Chapter 9.50

AERIAL SPRAYING OF PESTICIDES

Sections:

• 9.50.010 Findings.

• 9.50.020 Definitions.

• 9.50.030 Aerial release of pesticides. 9.50.040 Exceptions.

The city council hereby finds and determines that the discharge of quantities of chemical pesticides over the City of San José, a densely populated municipality, will render the air difficult and injurious to breathe, causing physical discomfort, allergic responses, and possible injury to many persons, damage to property, including automobiles, and otherwise producing inconvenience and annoyance to inhabitants of the city by depriving them of pure, uncontaminated and inoffensive air and is, therefore, a public nuisance. (Ord. 20537.)

• A. Person. The term "person" shall mean any individual, group of individuals, partnership, association, corporation, government, governmental agency, or other entity or combination of any entities.

• B. Aircraft. The term "aircraft" shall mean any airplane, helicopter, flying machine or any other

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HEALTH AND SAFETY

§ 9.52.020

man-made contrivance now known or hereafter invented, used or designed for navigation or flight in the air.

• C. Pesticide. The term "pesticide" shall mean any substance or mixture of substances which is intended to be used for, or is used for, preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any insects, fungi, bacteria, weeds, rodents, or predatory animals, or for defoliating plants, regulating plant growth, or any other form of plant or animal life which may infest or be detrimental to vegetation, man, or animals.

• (Ord. 20537.)

No person shall spray, drop or otherwise release, or cause to be sprayed, dropped or otherwise released, any pesticide from any aircraft flying within the city limits of the City of San José. (Ord. 20537.)

The prohibitions set forth in the above section shall not apply to prevent the spraying of pesticides during the following unforeseen and otherwise uncontrollable public emergencies: (1) fire, (2) flood, (3) earthquake. Additionally, the prohibitions set forth in the above section shall not apply to prevent the spraying of pesticides when any court of competent jurisdiction renders an order or judgment which allows said spraying or release upon a showing that there is a public emergency that cannot be satisfactorily abated by other less hazardous alternative means, nor shall the prohibitions set forth in the above section apply to prevent the spraying of pesticides over property used for agricultural purposes when the owner or lawful possessor of said property has consented to said spraying and said spraying is conducted in compliance with all federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and ordinances governing crop-dusting. (Ord. 20537.)