[Scpg] San Francisco It’s no longer illegal i grow Swiss chard in your backyard and sell it to the corner restaurant.April 20, 2011

Wed Oct 31 12:59:45 PDT 2012

http://www.49farms.org/

*It’s no longer illegal in this locally-sourced foodie capital to grow 
Swiss chard in your backyard and sell it to the corner restaurant.
Michael Macor / The Chronicle*

Mayor Ed Lee makes it official.On April 20, 2011
With the stroke of pen — punctuated by a celebratory “salad toast” of 
local greens — Mayor Ed Lee today signed legislation that allows for 
“urban agriculture” throughout the city, including the sale of produce 
from gardens.

“We’re going to make this legal!” Lee declared as he stood surrounded by 
sprouting vegetables and urban farmers at Little City Gardens in the 
Mission Terrace neighborhood.

The legislation, which grew out of the mayor’s office under former Mayor 
Gavin Newsom and was approved by the Board of Supervisors on April 12, 
rewrites old zoning laws that prohibited selling homegrown produce 
without a costly permit and a hearing in front of the city Planning 
Commission.

The new ordinance allows for the sale, pick-up and donation of fresh 
food and horticultural products grown on-site throughout the city. It 
also allows for the sale of “value-added products” like jams, pickles or 
pies where the primary ingredients are grown and produced on-site in all 
areas except those zoned exclusively for residential uses. Growing food 
or horticultural products for personal use remains unregulated.

Lee called urban agriculture a “more enlightened thing to do.”

“A lot of our ordinances, in my opinion, are outdated and we need to 
modernize them,” Lee said.

Eli Zigas of the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance, who led the 
“salad toast” with plates held aloft and a “hip, hip, hooray” (we are 
not making that up), said the new law “not only encourages people to 
connect with food and build community by cultivating fruits and 
vegetables in their neighborhoods, but also allows gardeners to earn a 
little extra cash to make a living selling what they grow.”
*
Urban agriculture: S.F. considers allowing sales
Robert Selna, Chronicle Staff Writer
Published 4:00 a.m., Thursday, December 23, 2010*

Brooke Budner, left and Caitlyn Galloway weed and harvest baby radishes 
in a 3/4 acre lot, Wednesday Dec. 15, 2010, in San Francisco, Calif. The 
two run the small business, Little City Gardens, that hopes to sell the 
produce it grows, but with current city zoning have been prohibited to 
do so. Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle / k about locavores, victory 
garden revivals and residents raising chickens and bees, a San 
Franciscan might be surprised to learn that he can't just sell produce 
out of his backyard. Not without running afoul of the law, that is.

While vacant real estate increasingly is being reclaimed for nonprofit 
and community gardens, old zoning laws prohibit selling homegrown 
produce without a costly permit and a hearing in front of the city 
Planning Commission.

But that could soon change.

In the coming weeks, city officials will start considering zoning 
changes that would let San Francisco join several other municipalities - 
from Boston to Kansas City - that are opening the door to a new 
small-business experiment: urban agriculture.

Questions remain about whether neighbors will fight small-time farming 
on their blocks, and the economics have yet to be worked out, but there 
are some who are eager to give it a try.

"It's still a big question: Can you make a living selling what you 
grow?" said Eli Zigas, executive director of Cultivate SF, a nonprofit 
that studies the commercial viability of urban produce gardens. "A lot 
of people are interested in trying different business models, but 
without these zoning changes, there really wouldn't be a way to see if 
they were viable."

Closer to the source
Zigas said the new zoning rules probably would inspire more local food 
production, including the expansion of nonprofit urban garden ventures 
because they clarify the areas in which community gardens - for profit 
or not - are allowed. Even if urban gardens don't prove to be a career 
option for most, they might provide side income, he said. At a minimum, 
more of them would expose city dwellers to the origins of their food.

"We'd like to see the amount of food grown in the city increase, but 
this is also about allowing people to see the food system differently, 
to build consumer awareness and to let them connect with their 
community," Zigas said.

Mayor Gavin Newsom's office introduced legislation at the Board of 
Supervisors last week that will need to wind its way through committees 
and then come back to the full board for a vote in the coming months.

Under the rules, produce may be sold from gardens of less than an acre 
in all zoning categories - from industrial to residential. Other 
requirements include a $300 one-time fee to sell the produce and fencing 
around a garden plot. Currently, obtaining a permit for a small 
commercial garden can cost several thousand dollars and include a more 
extensive public review process.

The new legislation describes agricultural plots of more than an acre as 
"urban industrial agriculture." Such endeavors also would be allowed in 
most zoning districts, but would require the expensive permit and review 
to set up in residential and neighborhood commercial districts. The 
rules do not permit the growing of controlled substances, including 
marijuana. They prohibit the sale of value-added products, such as 
apricot jam or peanut brittle, and they do not allow sales out of 
dwelling units.

Cristine DeBerry, Newsom's deputy chief of staff, said the changes fit 
with the mayor's directive from 2009, which ordered all city departments 
to find unused land - including empty lots, rooftops and median strips - 
that could be turned into community gardens.

DeBerry said that so far, the new zoning legislation has not encountered 
public opposition. But the need for the changes was spurred by 
neighbors' complaints about the one commercial garden company in San 
Francisco actually trying to pay its bills by selling greens.

When Little City Gardens expanded its operations from a 
2,500-square-foot plot near Mission Dolores Park to a three-quarter-acre 
parcel about 3 miles south near Mission Terrace early this year, some 
residents raised concerns about potential traffic and noise.

It turned out that to comply with the law, Little City would need to 
obtain a conditional-use permit, which requires a Planning Commission 
hearing to determine if the proposed use is "necessary and desirable" 
for the neighborhood.

Co-owners Brooke Budner and Caitlyn Galloway, both artists holding down 
other jobs, decided to wait until the zoning laws change, and they hope 
it happens soon.
They planned to be harvesting their salad mix greens and herbs by now 
and are eager to see whether their business plan will work. They say 
their efforts will be no more obtrusive than a nonprofit community 
garden and that traffic and noise impacts will be minimal.
Even if their commercial garden doesn't fly as a full-time gig, they're 
confident it can provide supplemental income and shine a light on 
broader food quality and environmental issues.

"Industrial agriculture is destroying our soil ecology and our water 
quality," Galloway said, referring to large-scale farming. "The city is 
a prime place to dialogue about the importance of agriculture and where 
we, as city residents, fit into our own food system."
Hopeful signs

The two present evidence that they will succeed.

They raised about $20,000 for initial costs on Kickstarter, a Web-based 
funding platform for creative projects. They previously sold their goods 
to local restaurants. Galloway said she gets a couple of e-mails per 
month from people around the United States interested in trying it 
themselves.
San Francisco is one of many cities encouraging commercial urban produce 
gardens. Detroit and Boston are working on similar zoning changes, and 
Boston plans to turn over two city parcels to growers who will sell 
their yields.

Kansas City, Mo., approved an ordinance in June permitting gardeners to 
peddle produce from their homes from May 15 through Oct. 15, but it 
outlaws "row crops" in front yards. Berkeley's planning department plans 
to study what other municipalities have done and what might work there.

"We haven't had a lot of people say they are anxious to open retail 
stands in their neighborhood. Most do trades or give it away," said Dan 
Marks, Berkeley's planning and development director. "But with the 
interest in local food and a desire to do more about climate issues, 
this idea isn't going away."

Read more: 
http://www.sfgate.com/homeandgarden/article/Urban-agriculture-S-F-considers-allowing-sales-2452457.php#ixzz2AuNeoZnf

Read more: 
http://www.sfgate.com/homeandgarden/article/Urban-agriculture-S-F-considers-allowing-sales-2452457.php#ixzz2AuNT2Kas

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