Eagle-eyed Kansas City gardeners tell The Pitch they're concerned about a City Council ordinance that seems to ban front-yard vegetable gardens.
The eye-catching line, added to Ordinance No. 100299: "Row crops are not permitted in the front yard of a residentially zoned and occupied property."
Councilwoman Beth Gottstein and Councilman John Sharp sponsored that ordinance, which passed the Planning and Zoning Committee yesterday and goes to the full council for a vote next week. It was intended to address the commotion that arose around Badseed Farm and Market, whose organic farm at 1201 West Bannister Road irked neighbors. (Read this Plog entry for background.)
Councilman Ed Ford tells The Pitch, "We were trying to find an ordinance that actually encouraged urban
gardening but did not impact your next door neighbor, that was the goal
we were seeking. Whether we hit it or completely missed
it, I don't know, but time will tell."
Lea Bryan, a Volker resident
with a stunning garden in her front yard (full disclosure: She's my
neighbor, and I have a less stunning front-yard garden as well), today
has sent a letter to Gottstein. "We meticulously maintain our front yard
garden and have discovered an added bonus to gardening in the front
yard," Bryan writes. "By working in the front yard, we have the
opportunity to meet and talk with neighbors on a daily basis. We get to
know our community in a very personal way." (You can read
Bryan's entire letter on her blog.)
Thanks to reactions like Bryan's, Ford says he and his fellow
P&Z council members will add a definition of "row crop" to the
ordinance before it goes before the full council. "We're looking at
definitions as simple as 'corn, beans and wheat,' or to plants over a
certain height," he says. "We don't care if people want to grow tomatoes in their
front yard or have fruit trees, that's all good."
Then again, Ford adds, "I don't want to see my neighbor planting corn in his front yard."
Until Badseed, Ford says, he'd never heard a complaint about anyone's garden in his 11 years on the council. "We don't get calls like, 'Oh, my God, my neighbors are growing vegetables!' " he says. "Urban gardening is a great trend and we want to encourage it, but on the other hand, it does call for some reasonable regulations. I'm not sure we've had enough experience with it yet. I would have been perfectly fine leaving things as they were, but we had an ordinance to deal with."
Photo via Ed Ford.
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So this is the first I have heard of this and it looks like the legislation that restricts "row plants" in front yards went into effect 6/20. I was just told by a neighbor that the city was taking pictures of my yard yesterday (6/21). I sure hope there is some sort of grace period. Also, it is pretty disrespectful of the city to be trying to pass this stuff right in the middle of the summer gardening season. How much money am I gonna lose if I have to rip my garden out right as it's about to produce...put that on top of whatever fine they think they need.
Our only sunny spot is our front yard. We have half as raised beds, and the other half is a three-sisters (corn, beans, and squash) mounded garden. The empty lot next to me, however, is consistently overgrown, as the owner chooses to mow only twice a year. Every council person who votes for these restrictions will get my every effort to unseat them at the next election. And, having the advantage of being a lawyer, I'll bog down any corn ticket I get with litigation. They'll get my $85.00 fine the hard way.
What is so offensive about corn in a front yard? Perhaps all the gardeners should give Ford a delicious home-grown, organic ear of sweet corn and maybe he would complain less!
Living in Waldo, with its huge established trees, makes gardening a challenge. I find that those who take the time to garden in their yards also maintain their yards. I am furious about this proposed restriction because it is increasingly challenging to eat in healthy and sustainable ways. Growing our own food is one sure way to ensure that we control and limit hazards like chemicals and pesticides on the food we put into our bodies. I will certainly not vote for my council people again if they support this restriction.
These people said it themselves. They are growing produce for the production of their buisness. They have excessive traffic to help in the production process and they conduct public activities that also benefit their buisness. That can hardly be compared to the single family dwelling next door that is growing produce for their families consumption. If lawyers keep pushing city officals around for the betterment of the buisness man, then pretty soon there will be more buisnesses than neighborhoods.
i have corn in my front yard, side yard too. sunflowers also. three or four of them aren't going to kill anyone. go get some native redcorn or something if you have to.
i like how this provision has provisions for "uninhabited houses" . . . seems like a read back through the squatter's guide to kansas city is in order
spend some time in a municipal codes violation court, and then go look around at all the desolate properties in the city waiting to be cleaned up and claimjumped. to those really seriously interested in this, keep the city's tax auction every august in mind.
It greatly saddens me to see a progressive community like Kansas City consider limiting the rights of property owners in this way.
These types of front yard gardens are good for Kansas City. They encourage a sense of community and even help reduce run-off amounts.
Too often local governmental policy is polluted by a "not in my back yard" mentality but now the City Council seeks to expand this pollution to a "not even in your own front yard" mindset.
Kansas City must stop this ordinance from passing as written.
My frustration with this entire issue centers around the fact that junk food (which should be called trash food since it's calorie-rich and nutrient-poor) is SO much less expensive than fresh, healthy food.
Anything that discourages people - especially those who can't afford pricey supermarket organics - from eating real food should be outlawed. Families deserve the right to use their land to feed their families: otherwise, what good is it?
Besides micromanaging lawn care, what this ordinance would do is send the message that appearances matter more than healthy kids and neighborhoods. I've lived in KC on and off since '85. I've felt like we were heading in the right direction, but this feels like a giant step back.
VICTORY GARDENS were once considered doing one's "patriotic duty" during wartime, so feeding yourselves is very much a part of our story of our nation. My great grand mother grew every imaginable veggie, fruit, and nut on a double lot.
Economic stress, job insecurity, being self reliant, feeding one's family, meeting neighbors while building community, is something every person in this country might to to ease our current issues. ie PRICELESS
Nitpicking about this just plain dead! a tantrum.
come on people let's eat and live our way back to health as a nation.
I agree with Lea. I live between two abandoned houses and would rather see row crops than chest high weeds. I grow tomatoes in the front because there isn't enough light in the back and probably other home owners are faced with the same issue. Furthermore, my tomatoes grow taller than beans so restricting certain vegetables is just getting nit-picky. Please drop it all.
i'm much more concerned about abandoned properties, unmowed lawns, and litter accumulating in yards than i am about someone cultivating a few corn plants. there are much bigger issues affecting city neighborhoods than someone making productive use of their lot.
Thank you for sharing this concern with your readers. It is my personal opinion that the council should drop the language about front yard gardens all together. As long as a property owner is maintaining their property, not growing anything illegal or invasive, or anything that is a site impediment for traffic why shouldn't they be able to grow what they want where they want? No complaints in 11 years, and now one unhappy neighbor gets an ordinance passed that could adversly affect home gardeners all over the city? Ridiculous.
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