Research snapshot · Waste · 13 September 2026

Pesticide restrictions in Massachusetts: 27 towns on the record, the pace easing

This page is a snapshot, cut 13 September 2026, of a topic that moves. Below is the shape of the movement, read from the towns' own meeting records, and the way to get a view of it that stays current.

Local limits on pesticide and herbicide use on public and private land, and the ordinances and waivers implementing them.Our definition of the class.

Snapshot taken 13 September 2026, based on 36 dated municipal records flagged as pesticide restrictions in Massachusetts, spanning 27 municipalities. The topic moves; a later cut supersedes this page.

What this page is for one topic at state or national scope, told as a story: how it arrived, the shape of its movement, a dated snapshot of a moving record, and the door to a view of it that stays current. If it does not, write to us; that is what changes the next edition.

Source documents 3 of 19 on this page link straight to the town's own record. The rest are available on request. Ask for access.

The story so far

The record starts in Grafton, 20 December 2024. Since then 27 Massachusetts towns have put the topic on a meeting record, the newest of them Rockland on 19 August 2026.

The last 90 days put 6 meetings on the record, well down from 18 in the 90 days before.

It runs through the rooms where budgets and ordinances are made: Conservation Commission, Select Board and Town Administrator Weekly Reports.

The shape of the movement

Dated meetings on the record at this scope, quarter by quarter, and the same 90-day count as a rolling line, whose right-hand point is that number. Counts of documents, never a reading of what they decided.
QuarterMeetingsTowns
Sep 2025 to Nov 202500
Dec 2025 to Feb 202676
Mar 2026 to May 20261813
Jun 2026 to Sep 2026 (current)65

a rolling 90-day total, so the right-hand point is that same 90-day count. The busiest stretch was Mar 2026 to May 2026, with 18 meetings.

The towns on the record27, earliest first

Every Massachusetts town carrying the topic, the earliest first, each with its latest document.
Graftonearliest 2024-12-20 · 2 meetings · latest 2025-08-22 · a report Weekly Report August 22 2025
Billericaearliest 2025-04-24 · 1 meeting · latest 2025-04-24 · the agenda 2025-04-24-Finance Committee-Agenda
Medfordearliest 2025-05-06 · 1 meeting · latest 2025-05-06 · the agenda City Council Committee of the Whole Meeting 2025-05-06 — 2025.05.06 - Committee of the Whole Agenda With Attachments
Andoverearliest 2025-08-11 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-01-20 · the agenda 2026-01-20 Meeting Packet
Rutlandearliest 2026-02-03 · 1 meeting · latest 2026-02-03 · the minutes Minutes — 2026-02-03
Acushnetearliest 2026-02-17 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-05-12 · the agenda AgendaCenter agenda
Chelmsfordearliest 2026-02-23 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-06-09 · the minutes Minutes — 2026-06-09
Burlingtonearliest 2026-02-26 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-03-12 · the minutes Agenda center file Regular Meeting
Cohassetearliest 2026-03-04 · 1 meeting · latest 2026-03-04 · the minutes AgendaCenter minutes
Sharonearliest 2026-03-24 · 3 meetings · latest 2026-04-09 · the agenda Conservation meeting Agenda
Ashlandearliest 2026-04-07 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-06-02 · the agenda Board of Health - Zoom
Pepperellearliest 2026-04-07 · 1 meeting · latest 2026-04-07 · the agenda Conservation Commission
Harwichearliest 2026-04-13 · 1 meeting · latest 2026-04-13 · the meeting packet One Time Event 2026-04-13 — 04/13/26 Harwich Affordable Housing Trust Packet
Winchesterearliest 2026-04-14 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-04-30 · the agenda Regular Meeting
Auburnearliest 2026-04-22 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-04-22 · the agenda Conservation Commission

And 12 more towns on the record, in an account view.

From the record

The most recent documents behind this page, one per town. Each link opens the town's own file.

19 August 2026 · Rockland

the agenda, on the town's own site Agenda — 2026-08-19

5 August 2026 · Fitchburg

the agenda, on the town's own site Agenda — 2026-08-05

24 June 2026 · Lowell Conservation Commission

the agenda, on the town's own site 6/24 Conservation Commission Agenda

17 June 2026 · Marlborough City Clerk

the agenda, on the town's own site Fort Meadow Commission/Conservation Commission Joint Working Group Meeting

Companies on this record101 companies, 31 documents

Named in the same documents that carry this topic, read from the record itself: the firms designing, building and advising the work, each with where the record places them:
ComcastAndover, Chelmsford, Medford
VerizonAndover, Chelmsford, Medford
New England Power CompanyChelmsford, Littleton
American Maplewood properties, LLCBurlington
Birch Hill Trust, Corp.Sharon
Central Mass Mosquito Control ProjectAshland
CSX Transportation Inc.Auburn
SITEC Engineering & Environmental ConsultingSharon
Tighe & BondAuburn
Walsh EngineeringAuburn
1 Smith StreetChelmsford
10 Converse PlaceWinchester
33 Mount Vernon StreetWinchester
9 Lady Slipper LaneChelmsford
AARPGrafton
Aberjona River Day CleanupWinchester
All Matters ConstructionBurlington
Allen and Major associatesBurlington
AmazonBelchertown
Andover Center for History and CultureAndover
Athletic Fields working groupSharon
AvenzaWinchester
Bandoleros Andover, Inc.Andover
Bank State National BankAndover
BillMarlborough
Birch Hill II SubdivisionSharon
Boston Museum of Fine ArtsAndover
BSC Group, Inc.Chelmsford
CarrieHarwich
Central Mass Mosquito Control Project (CMMCP)Grafton

And 71 more companies.

The documents naming each, and the threads they sit in, are the account view. If one of these is you, those are your projects on the record. Ask and we will show you every one, and the towns around them, as they move.

A snapshot of a moving record

Everything above is frozen at 13 September 2026; the topic is not. 25 more events on this topic carry no usable date and are counted, never dated. The counts follow where we read most: a town or a state absent here was not read at depth, and absence is not evidence the topic is absent there. A lighter-read state is not a ceiling; where you care about a region, pointing the system there is the first thing an account changes. How coverage is built, and its known limits: municipalalpha.com/methodology.

How we can tell you about it ongoing

We track this topic continuously; this page is one cut of it, taken 13 September 2026. An account turns the snapshot into a working view: every town and every document behind these counts, the thread on each matter as it develops, word of new meetings as they land on the record, your own states and topics side by side, and the data itself when you want it in a table. The towns above are the taste; what each is actually deciding, funding or stalling is the read an account carries.

Also at this scope: Pesticide restrictions across the country. Counts and dates are computed from the documents on the record; the topic and its definition are ours. This page carries no subscriber content.

Pesticide restrictions, Massachusetts

from the towns' own meeting records

Scope

Massachusetts

every topic this state carries

Area

Waste

every topic in this area

Towns on the record

27

with a dated document on this topic

Earliest

20 December 2024

the documents' dates

Meetings, last 90 days

6 against 18 before

dated documents

Snapshot cut

13 September 2026

this page's date

A view that stays current

ask for yours