Ordinance Concept Discussion (Please Respond!)

[Matt Read]

Hey there SUAA & SSCA!

I just got word back from Heather Frambach, a planner acquaintance of mine from Austin. I told Katie, Chanowk, Mike, and Laurel that she helped draft and implement the City of Austin's urban ag ordinance and has a lot of experience in this field as well as a keen eye for community involvement and outreach.

Tentatively, she and I had talked about meeting to discuss concepts to wrap into the larger urban ag ordinance, as well as land use concepts to suggest during the general plan process. I had shot out some random ideas, and would love for you read these over and propose ideas as well. Would anyone be available to meet Thursday morning? I know its short notice, but I think itd be best to get concepts hammered down ahead of and in conjunction with the messaging.

Chanowk as an actual urban ag practicioner I would really love if you could attend and we could bug you about your experience.

Here is the rough concept sheet I sent Heather. There is a lot more that we could put in, too.

A quick-and-dirty of the concepts would be like:
Land Use Policies

• Scale appropriate farms permitted in all zones (this is a comically loaded concept)
  
• Food distribution and wholesale facilities (Food Hubs) subject to conditional use...
• Zoning incentives to promote developer retention of agricultural open space (FAR transfers? Parking easing? )
  

Education

• No idea, just riffing
  

Business Climate

• Community agriculture as a permitted home occupation. Standards.
• Coordinate with the County of Sacramento to define regulation of community agriculture.
• Identify opportunities for scale-appropriate regulation, incorporation of cottage food law
• Tax incentives for businesses buying food from community agriculture
• Institutional Purchasing (local procurement)

Particularly there is a lot more that we could do with water access and education. Further, there could be city programs to fund something as well. I am definitely open to a program but also want to more with low cost options.

Best!
Matt
(503) 302-5408

--
Matt Read

J.D. Candidate 2014

McGeorge School of Law 

[Laurel Rhodes]

Hi all!

Matt looks like a great start, good work! I am unavailable to meet this week, but will be back in town by Tuesday next week. It would be wonderful if you could meet up with some other SSCA activist before your meeting with Heather Frambach. 

Keep me posted!

Laurel Rhodes