Many thanks to the more than 500 people from around the city and across the country who signed the petition! We sent it to the Planning Commission and will be sending it to the Board of Supervisors. We are no longer collecting signatures for the petition. However, we still need your help to get the proposal passed. Please click here to see how you can get involved.
Text of the SFUAA Zoning Petition
Dear Members of the Planning Commission: I urge you to support the urban agriculture zoning proposal introduced in December 2010 (Ordinance 101537) along with a few important amendments. San Francisco could be home to many more gardens that would provide neighborhood greenspace, allow community members to grow their own food, pioneer new small businesses, and beautify the city. But the current zoning regulations are a barrier to realizing that potential. While I am generally supportive of the proposal, I share the concerns of the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance. Specifically, I urge you to support the following changes to the proposal:
1) Remove any fencing requirement The proposal’s requirement that any fences surrounding a garden must be wood or “ornamental” would place an unnecessarily heavy cost burden on community gardens and market gardens.
2) Remove or waive “change of use” permit fees for urban agriculture projects Similarly, the current “change of use” fee structure would require future urban agriculture projects to pay more than $300 before they could even plant a seed at a new site. This is another unnecessary and expensive hurdle for these types of projects and would hinder their growth in the city.
3) Allow sales of value-added products and pooled produce on site I urge you to allow gardens and farms to pool together their produce and also allow them to sell value-added products made from their produce by supporting amendment language that would permit both. I hope you will support the proposal with the amendments outlined above. Sincerely, Your Name Address City, State Zip
*When the SFUAA submits the petition to the Planning Commission, only your name and street address will be included. We will not share your email address with anyone. We only ask for your email address so that we can update you on the status of the zoning proposal as it moves forward.*
1) Remove any fencing requirement The proposal’s requirement that any fences surrounding a garden must be wood or “ornamental” would place an unnecessarily heavy cost burden on community gardens and market gardens.
2) Remove or waive “change of use” permit fees for urban agriculture projects Similarly, the current “change of use” fee structure would require future urban agriculture projects to pay more than $300 before they could even plant a seed at a new site. This is another unnecessary and expensive hurdle for these types of projects and would hinder their growth in the city.
3) Allow sales of value-added products and pooled produce on site I urge you to allow gardens and farms to pool together their produce and also allow them to sell value-added products made from their produce by supporting amendment language that would permit both. I hope you will support the proposal with the amendments outlined above. Sincerely, Your Name Address City, State Zip
*When the SFUAA submits the petition to the Planning Commission, only your name and street address will be included. We will not share your email address with anyone. We only ask for your email address so that we can update you on the status of the zoning proposal as it moves forward.*
