Mayor Kevin Johnson

Sacramento City Council

915 I St.
Sacramento, CA
Mayor and Councilmembers,
Urban agriculture had its best year ever in 2015, in large part because of the incredible effort put in by
City Staff and elected officials to pass the urban agriculture ordinances. It has helped bring food into
neighborhoods that need it, and for that we thank you.
It is hard to believe that only nine months ago, the City of Sacramento passed the Urban Agriculture
Ordinance to legalize the growing of food for sale within City limits. Thinking back on March, it is pretty
incredible to reflect on the discourse on food that the City had on account of the ordinance. Now, even
more urban farming initiatives are moving forward, including the successful passage of the Urban
Agriculture Incentive Zone ordinance, the incredible work being done at the Luther Burbank Urban
Garden, and recently Councilmember Schenirers announcement of the Urban Farm incubator project at
the City Tree Nursery site. Theres more to come!
Our perspective is unabashedly that of advocates. We see the potential
for urban agriculture to improve neighborhoods and make Sacramento a
healthier city for everyone. The progress we have made in this short
period is a good start. But, we think it should be viewed not just as a
mere success, but also evidence in support of expanding and innovating
policies to continue to promote urban agriculture in our city.
Produce Sales
Sales of produce have been perhaps the biggest tangible impact weve
seen so far. Driving up 58th St. in Tahoe Park on a Tuesday night in the
Figure 1. Bird Dog Farm in Tahoe
Park
spring you can buy radishes from Birddog Farms, or greens from the
Yisrael Family Farm stand on San Jose in Oak Park. There have also been
successful farm stands operating elsewhere, like East Sacramento. This ordinance is working, but could
be expanded to even greater effect. We would like the City to be open to increasing the days during
the week a farm stand could operate.
Access to Land
The potential for urban agriculture to transform vacant lots was recognized by council during the urban
agriculture ordinance debate and during the passage of the Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone ordinance
that provided tax breaks to vacant lots practicing urban agriculture. While the city ordinances are a good
start, problem lots remain due to absentee or problem landowners. For advocates working to develop
vacant land around the City, two specific issues have hindered our efforts.

1. Difficulty in tracking down -and developing relationships with- owners of specific blighted lots.
2. Expense of hooking up water to lots in order to capitalize on the UAIZ tax benefit.
If we want to get serious about improving the blight caused by vacant lots, our partners have
identified tools that, working with City Code Enforcement and Community Development departments,
could help not just increase urban agriculture on vacant lots, but more broadly allow for community-led
greenspace development. We ask that the City Council resolve to support these efforts through more
than zoning changes; lets convene City departments to work together to look at all of the ways the
City can support urban agriculture including code violation amnesty for vacant lots switching to urban
agriculture.
Likewise, the biggest issue keeping the Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone designation from transforming
the lots of those owners we worked with was the cost of the water hook-up requirement, which was
added to the Citys application in order to qualify for the tax benefit. Lots that had longstanding
agreements with neighbors for access to water could not apply without having a metered connection or
well plan in place. We think this requirement, without funding to support the hookups, will continue to
keep applications low in future years. One administrative way that the City could help is to prorate the
cost of a hookup over a multi-year period. For many urban farmers, it is the access to initial capital that
makes vacant lot farming so difficult; lets do whatever we can to make that easier.
In short, we ask the City Council to direct staff from the Departments of Utilities, General Services,
Parks and Recreation, and Planning and Community Development to work with the Sacramento Urban
Agriculture Coalition as part of an Urban Agriculture Development Initiative. Lets make sure that city
policies and fees recognize the opportunity for healthy, neighborhood-oriented development in our
neighborhoods.
Lets make 2016 a year we continue to build on the successes weve enjoyed so far, lets roll up our
sleeves and get to work. If we can keep this movement growing, we can truly realize our goal of
increasing everyones access to fresh, local foods: the heart of Farm to Every Fork.
Fondly,
Matt Read
OBO Sacramento Urban Agriculture Coalition