RIPR News
(2010-07-25)
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photo:lucian.uchicago.edu
Council president Richard Conlin is leading the charge to ease restrictions on growing and selling fresh food in the city. He says encouraging urban farming will help get more healthy food into people's diets.
"It's also about economic development and environmental stewardship," he says, "because there are some opportunities here for people to actually grow and sell food and there is also an opportunity for us to improve our environmental stewardship by consuming more locally-gown food and less imported food."
Under the proposed changes, urban farms in residential neighborhoods would be allowed up to 4,000 square feet of planting area without a permit. There'd be no size limit in areas zoned commercial. There would be standards for hours and location of farm stands, as well as the use of mechanical equipment, placement and size of signs and more.
The proposal would also increase the number of chickens you could keep in residential areas from three to eight. Roosters would continue to be allowed.
Some community activists see the changes as encouraging neighbors to get more involved with each other. Todd Hunsdorfer is with the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle.
"There will be more conversations held over fences and in front yards," he says. "There will be an exchange of produce from families to families, depending on who has abundant tomatoes and who has more peas than they can handle."
Not everyone is thrilled with the idea bringing small-scale agriculture into the city. The council has heard from some residents who are concerned about noise or odors from their neighbor's yards. But Councilmember Conlin says most comments so far have been in support.
The measure is still in committee. A vote of the full council is expected by September.
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