SF Urban Agriculture Legislation 2012
Urban Agriculture Ordinance Implementation Memo
Below (and available for download here) is the SFUAA Memo on the Urban Agriculture Ordinance Implementation. The final legislation (available for download here) passed the Board, and was signed by Mayor Lee in July 2012.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
To: Bill Barnes, Project Manager, Office of the City Administrator
Cc: Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor David Chiu
From: San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance Policy Platform Committee
Date: December 9, 2012
Re: Updated recommendations for Urban Agriculture Legislation Implementation
In the past two months, the SFUAA Policy Platform Committee met with representatives from
the San Francisco Parks Alliance, Department of the Environment, and Recreation and Parks
Department to discuss the future of the urban agriculture program. Based on these
conversations, below is an updated version of the memo we sent in October that includes more thoughts on considerations we feel are important when evaluating where the new program will be housed.
~~~
Thank you for dedicating resources toward the implementation of the 2012 Urban Agriculture
legislation. We appreciate the opportunity to continue a dialogue with you as the process moves forward. With this in mind, the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance (SFUAA) has outlined a few issues that deserve special focus throughout the implementation process. We’ve also identified five early action items that could catalyze the new urban agriculture program.
Urban Agriculture Legislation Implementation - Areas Deserving Special Focus
The coordinating agency or non-profit that houses the program should:
○ Employ, at minimum, one full-time staff person in charge of the urban ag program. This person would be accountable, with a clear reporting structure, for reaching the goals of the legislation and any other goals determined by the program and should not have their time split with other duties. The support of additional staff time and resources will also likely be necessary for the program to accomplish its goals.
○ Be willing and ready to support various models of urban agriculture. City farms and gardens come in many formats: rooftop gardens, market gardens, plotbased, communally-managed, interim use, permanent use, greenhouses, animal husbandry, and more. The program will need to be able to support a wide range of inquiries and needs, ranging from an entrepreneur seeking to start a commercial rooftop farm to an existing community garden volunteer seeking assistance repairing their gardens’ beehives. The program coordinator alone will not be able to individually address all these projects needs, but as the front door to
the one-stop shop, will be most successful if they know how to support the diverse range of urban agriculture activity in the city.
○ Have experience in initiating and/or maintaining a site on public and/or private land.
○ Have experience and/or a demonstrated commitment to working with community groups that rely on and are driven by volunteers. Many urban agriculture groups don’t have paid staff or the capacity of funded organizations and these groups could benefit the most from the institutional support or a city-supported urban agriculture program.
○ Have demonstrated support from the top leadership of the organization for housing the program and dedicating resources toward its success.
Financial Accountability
Currently, hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent supporting urban agriculture, much
of which is incredibly helpful to city gardeners and farmers. But the impact of some of
these funds is unclear. The new urban agriculture program must institute both transparency and accountability in how urban agriculture funds are spent in San Francisco. This will include clear lines of responsibility, accounting for expenses, and goals, including but not limited to the goals written into the legislation.
Should the program be housed in a non-profit, it will also be important to establish a
mechanism for public accountability, such as an advisory committee, or periodic hearings
before a city commission or Board of Supervisors committee.
Support and Cooperation Across Agencies
The Urban Agriculture Program, whether it is housed in a non-profit or a city agency, will
have to work across departments. Therefore, there must be a clear signal of support from
the city leadership, including both the City Administrator and Mayor. One important avenue of support is having a designated point person for urban agriculture in the Mayor’s Office. This person would provide another line of communication, in addition to those already in place, for practitioners and advocates and help address any issues that arise between agencies.
Financial Sustainability
The strategic plan must include a plan for sustainable funding and a budget for the new
urban agriculture program. One outstanding question is whether future funding for the
urban agriculture program will come from existing budgets through consolidation or from
other sources.
Five early action items to catalyze the new urban agriculture program
1 Create a clear, simple application process for activating public land for urban agriculture.
The DPW/SF Parks Alliance Street Parks program is a good model.
2 Create Garden Resource centers. Resource centers could provide compost, mulch, tool
lending and seed libraries as well as seed starts. These centers will benefit community
projects and individual backyard gardeners. Pilot projects have already happened – for
example, compost has been available for pick up at Garden for the Environment, Alemany Farm, and Hayes Valley Farm. The Clean City Coalition currently operates a tool lending library. A Seed library and seed starts have been available at Hayes Valley Farm and the Potrero Branch library. And mulch could likely be provided by RPD, DPW, or
Bayview Greenwaste.
3 Annual or semi-annual convening of community garden and urban ag project coordinators--to accurately identify needs and barriers and create a stronger network of
urban ag practitioners.
4 An online and paper listing of resources available to community gardeners and urban
farmers. The SFUAA, Department of the Environment, and Recreation and Parks Department each have helpful links, but the creation of one expanded portal for information, with continuous updating, would be helpful.
5 Contact people on the community garden waiting lists to let them know about existing
resources for starting new projects (e.g. Community Opportunity Fund, Community
Challenge Grant, other resources)
The issues outlined here are critical to realizing the goals of the legislation: creating a
transparent, efficient infrastructure to ensure a vibrant urban agriculture landscape in San
Francisco. Please let us know if you have any additional questions, we look forward to
continuing the dialogue.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
To: Bill Barnes, Project Manager, Office of the City Administrator
Cc: Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor David Chiu
From: San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance Policy Platform Committee
Date: December 9, 2012
Re: Updated recommendations for Urban Agriculture Legislation Implementation
In the past two months, the SFUAA Policy Platform Committee met with representatives from
the San Francisco Parks Alliance, Department of the Environment, and Recreation and Parks
Department to discuss the future of the urban agriculture program. Based on these
conversations, below is an updated version of the memo we sent in October that includes more thoughts on considerations we feel are important when evaluating where the new program will be housed.
~~~
Thank you for dedicating resources toward the implementation of the 2012 Urban Agriculture
legislation. We appreciate the opportunity to continue a dialogue with you as the process moves forward. With this in mind, the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance (SFUAA) has outlined a few issues that deserve special focus throughout the implementation process. We’ve also identified five early action items that could catalyze the new urban agriculture program.
Urban Agriculture Legislation Implementation - Areas Deserving Special Focus
The coordinating agency or non-profit that houses the program should:
○ Employ, at minimum, one full-time staff person in charge of the urban ag program. This person would be accountable, with a clear reporting structure, for reaching the goals of the legislation and any other goals determined by the program and should not have their time split with other duties. The support of additional staff time and resources will also likely be necessary for the program to accomplish its goals.
○ Be willing and ready to support various models of urban agriculture. City farms and gardens come in many formats: rooftop gardens, market gardens, plotbased, communally-managed, interim use, permanent use, greenhouses, animal husbandry, and more. The program will need to be able to support a wide range of inquiries and needs, ranging from an entrepreneur seeking to start a commercial rooftop farm to an existing community garden volunteer seeking assistance repairing their gardens’ beehives. The program coordinator alone will not be able to individually address all these projects needs, but as the front door to
the one-stop shop, will be most successful if they know how to support the diverse range of urban agriculture activity in the city.
○ Have experience in initiating and/or maintaining a site on public and/or private land.
○ Have experience and/or a demonstrated commitment to working with community groups that rely on and are driven by volunteers. Many urban agriculture groups don’t have paid staff or the capacity of funded organizations and these groups could benefit the most from the institutional support or a city-supported urban agriculture program.
○ Have demonstrated support from the top leadership of the organization for housing the program and dedicating resources toward its success.
Financial Accountability
Currently, hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent supporting urban agriculture, much
of which is incredibly helpful to city gardeners and farmers. But the impact of some of
these funds is unclear. The new urban agriculture program must institute both transparency and accountability in how urban agriculture funds are spent in San Francisco. This will include clear lines of responsibility, accounting for expenses, and goals, including but not limited to the goals written into the legislation.
Should the program be housed in a non-profit, it will also be important to establish a
mechanism for public accountability, such as an advisory committee, or periodic hearings
before a city commission or Board of Supervisors committee.
Support and Cooperation Across Agencies
The Urban Agriculture Program, whether it is housed in a non-profit or a city agency, will
have to work across departments. Therefore, there must be a clear signal of support from
the city leadership, including both the City Administrator and Mayor. One important avenue of support is having a designated point person for urban agriculture in the Mayor’s Office. This person would provide another line of communication, in addition to those already in place, for practitioners and advocates and help address any issues that arise between agencies.
Financial Sustainability
The strategic plan must include a plan for sustainable funding and a budget for the new
urban agriculture program. One outstanding question is whether future funding for the
urban agriculture program will come from existing budgets through consolidation or from
other sources.
Five early action items to catalyze the new urban agriculture program
1 Create a clear, simple application process for activating public land for urban agriculture.
The DPW/SF Parks Alliance Street Parks program is a good model.
2 Create Garden Resource centers. Resource centers could provide compost, mulch, tool
lending and seed libraries as well as seed starts. These centers will benefit community
projects and individual backyard gardeners. Pilot projects have already happened – for
example, compost has been available for pick up at Garden for the Environment, Alemany Farm, and Hayes Valley Farm. The Clean City Coalition currently operates a tool lending library. A Seed library and seed starts have been available at Hayes Valley Farm and the Potrero Branch library. And mulch could likely be provided by RPD, DPW, or
Bayview Greenwaste.
3 Annual or semi-annual convening of community garden and urban ag project coordinators--to accurately identify needs and barriers and create a stronger network of
urban ag practitioners.
4 An online and paper listing of resources available to community gardeners and urban
farmers. The SFUAA, Department of the Environment, and Recreation and Parks Department each have helpful links, but the creation of one expanded portal for information, with continuous updating, would be helpful.
5 Contact people on the community garden waiting lists to let them know about existing
resources for starting new projects (e.g. Community Opportunity Fund, Community
Challenge Grant, other resources)
The issues outlined here are critical to realizing the goals of the legislation: creating a
transparent, efficient infrastructure to ensure a vibrant urban agriculture landscape in San
Francisco. Please let us know if you have any additional questions, we look forward to
continuing the dialogue.
URBAN AGRICULTURE LEGISLATION PASSES UNANIMOUSLY!
Many thanks to all who turned out at the Land Use hearing and the 50+ people who sent in letters advocating for this much needed program in San Francisco.
As the strategic plan for the for the program is created over the next few months the SFUAA will continue to monitor, report back, and advise the city to help it become as useful and successful as it has the potential to be. So stay tuned for future updates!
As the strategic plan for the for the program is created over the next few months the SFUAA will continue to monitor, report back, and advise the city to help it become as useful and successful as it has the potential to be. So stay tuned for future updates!
SFUAA Position on Urban Ag Funding
The SFUAA is calling on the Board of Supervisors to include in the 2012-2013 city budget:
a) Funding to cover salary and benefits for at least one full-time staff person to coordinate the new program
b) An additional $100,000 for program implementation including: providing material resources to new and existing sites, technical assistance to urban agriculture organizations, support for gleaning and distribution, and other expenses necessary to achieve the goals of the program.
Click here for more background on the urban agriculture legislation.
a) Funding to cover salary and benefits for at least one full-time staff person to coordinate the new program
b) An additional $100,000 for program implementation including: providing material resources to new and existing sites, technical assistance to urban agriculture organizations, support for gleaning and distribution, and other expenses necessary to achieve the goals of the program.
Click here for more background on the urban agriculture legislation.
