A committee looking to change the way the city deals with urban farms met for a second time on Wednesday night. The goal was to further define the group's mission and begin the process of reaching out to neighborhoods.
"The reason we're here is that some growers in urban areas have had onerous restrictions placed on their ability to grow and sell products. We want to determine how we can make changes that are still amenable to the larger community," said Gretchen Kunkel, who moderated the meeting and attended as a representative of the Greater Kansas City Food Policy Coalition.
The committee split into three sections for a majority of the meeting at the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Center. Topics were communication strategies, outreach to neighborhoods, and what research needs to be done to see how other cities are approaching the issue of urban agriculture.
"How can we package urban agriculture so that people don't first think of overgrown tomato beds and rotten pumpkins, but instead see kids pulling vegetables out of the ground and the beauty of community gardens?" asked Brooke Salvaggio, co-owner of Bad Seed Farm (where I am a community supported agriculture member).
"We have to be consistent and positive," answered Season Burnett, director of The Kansas City CSA Coaliton, "in order to let people understand the impact that urban agriculture can have on a community."
Among the potential avenues for reform are special use permits, overlays and minimum lot thresholds for commercial enterprises. The committee is going to look into zoning and strategies in Cleveland, Ohio; Madison, Wisconsin; Bloomington, Indiana; and Seattle, Washington, among others. Specifically, they want to see how (and whether) those cities differentiate between community gardens and market growers.
"Most agricultural zones are in a holding pattern waiting for development to come. But if you zone for agriculture, then the market will ultimately prevail and determine what happens on those lots," said Patty Noll, an urban planner
in the City Planning and Development Department.
The steering committee's next meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 30, at 6 p.m. The location has yet to be determined (I'll update this post when it has been selected).
"The City Council has stated they want to make Kansas City the greenest
city in the country. The key is to do that and still keep neighborhoods
stable," said Noll.
[Image via Flickr: addictive picasso]
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Don't forget the Detroit garden resource program collaborative when looking around for urban ag models. Programs for the education/training of new and prospective gardeners are as important as zoning changes.
http://www.detroitagriculture....
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