2010-12-23 "Urban agriculture: S.F. considers allowing sales"

Robert Selna from "San Francisco Chronicle" newspaper
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/23/MNK81GRCSB.DTL]
With all the talk 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.