Urban Agriculture Law Could Plow New Ground

Group Pushes for On-Site Produce Sales, More Chickens in Residential Areas

FAYETTEVILLE — A group of food advocates and city staff are making headway on proposed policies aimed at promoting urban agriculture.

At A Glance

Urban Agriculture

A “Food City Scenario” being drafted by the University of Arkansas Community Design Center could give local policymakers information to consider when discussing an urban agriculture ordinance later this year.

The scenario asks what Fayetteville would look like in 2030 if most of the city’s food came from local sources. It envisions fruit-bearing trees in street rights of way; cold-weather greenhouses; concentrated fish farms; more community gardens; and new livestock exchanges.

Stephen Luoni, director of the Community Design Center, an outreach of the Fay Jones School of Architecture, said the scenario will come out later this summer. It was paid for using a $15,000 award from the American Institute of Architects.

Source: Staff Report

The changes would make it easier for people to sell food they grow on their own property and allow more chickens, ducks and bees in residential areas. The idea is to give more leeway to people who fall somewhere between large commercial farmers and small backyard gardeners.

“We’re not trying to set up robust business opportunities so much as we’re trying to create a smaller micro-economy,” Nicole Civita, a visiting assistant professor in the University of Arkansas’ agricultural and food law program, said Thursday. Civita is one of about a dozen members of an urban agriculture group trying to draft recommendations for Fayetteville planning commissioners and City Council members.

“Limited businesses” such as an accounting firm run out of someone’s home office are allowed in most residential areas with a permit. Members of the urban agriculture stakeholder group would like to expand that provision to single-family houses on one-, two- and half-acre lots. To obtain a permit, an applicant must notify adjacent property owners and pay the city a $105 application fee.

Planning commissioners would then determine whether the business is compatible with surrounding properties. They can require things such as parking spaces and screening and can limit noise or hours of operation.

“What you’re trying to avoid is having someone’s driveway full of produce day-in and day-out with lots of traffic and upset neighbors,” Civita said.

Don Bennett, who runs Tri Cycle Farms on about 2 acres near Garland Avenue and Sycamore Street, said he would like to be able to create a food hub where small gardeners can buy and sell produce — possibly at Trinity United Methodist Church, across Garland from Tri Cycle Farms.

“We could potentially create a model that empowers homeowners to not necessarily have to sell right on their site, but they can actually be part of a cooperative where they could bring in their vegetables,” Bennett said.

Another option for people wanting to sell produce from where they live is to rezone their land to an agricultural setting, where limited businesses are allowed by right. The problem, for some, is agricultural lots are supposed to be at least 2 acres. A rezoning request carries a $330 application fee and applicants must appear before the Planning Commission and City Council. Rezonings that would create islands of agricultural land in the middle of residential areas are generally not allowed.

To address some of those concerns, the urban agriculture group also wants to add agricultural sales to the section of city code dealing with garage sales. No permits or application fees are needed for those types of sales. But, sales are limited in one location to four times per year. A single sale cannot exceed three days.

New urban agriculture policies could also tweak the city’s animals and fowl ordinance, which was approved in 2008 after extensive debate. City code allows four female chickens on single-family properties.

Policies discussed Thursday would allow homeowners to have more chickens — and ducks — on lots larger than 5,000 square feet (about one-eighth of an acre). Another bird would be allowed for every additional 1,250 square feet of space, at up to 20 hens maximum.

Pigs, cows, goats, horses, sheep and rabbits would still be prohibited in residential areas. But, bees would be added to the ordinance. A maximum of two beehives would be allowed on lots smaller than 5,000 square feet. Other hives would be allowed for every 2,500 square feet of additional land, up to eight hives. A fresh water supply would have to be available nearby, and hives couldn’t be within 25 feet of a neighbor’s house.

Peter Nierengarten, Fayetteville sustainability and strategic planning director, said he expects proposed policy changes to appear before the City Council’s ordinance review committee sometime this fall.

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