Policy Profiles

Supporting Urban Agriculture through Land Use Policy:  A Recipe for Community Health

Agriculture is not usually a focus in urban land use planning.  After all, agriculture is something that happens on farms and in rural areas; not in cities – right?  Not necessarily.  Land-use planning is central to fostering urban agriculture – the practice of growing crops or livestock within the bounds of the city -- and creating healthier food environments. 

Urban agriculture has the capacity to foster economic development, neighborhood beautification, and increased access to local, fresh foods – key components of healthy living.  Not to mention, when residents’ grow food themselves – for example, community gardens – urban agriculture also confers physical and mental benefits.  Regulations governing the use of land can protect local farms, set aside space for community gardens, and foster sufficient healthy food retail outlets.  This article profiles two cities, who are using land-use policy to promote urban agriculture in two very different ways.

Madison, Wisconsin

The Madison Comprehensive Plan

When the planning commission and city planners in Madison, Wisconsin began drafting their general plan – a legal document which delineates a city’s long-range land-use plan -- they new they needed to incorporate local food and agriculture.  After all, city residents’ valued local agriculture and wanted to protect nearby farmland.  Furthermore, Madison had recently launched the Healthy City Initiative, which supported projects that strengthen the regional food economy.  A strong local food system was seen as foundational and intrinsically tied to residents’ health.  Integrating the food system into the general plan was a natural extension of this work, and it allowed the city to create polices that targeted multiple points within the food system.  Linda Horvath, a Madison City Planner who authored portions of the plan agrees “when we wrote the agriculture parts of the plan we definitely had healthy eating and the importance of health in mind.” 

The Madison Comprehensive Plan – this city’s version of a general plan -- outlines strategies to protect farmland on the urban edge, and it calls for the identification of land to set aside for agriculture as the city grows outward.  Within the city, the plan ambitiously calls for the creation of one garden site for every 2,000 households.  To accomplish this, city-owned parkland and surplus property will be considered for gardening opportunities.  Extended five-year city leases – and in some cases permanent designation -- for community gardens provides security to residents’ using the land – some of whom are the city’s low-income residents.  These policies underscore the value of urban agriculture as a strategy to increase avenues of access to fresh food in underserved communities.  The plan supports other forms of urban agriculture too, such as incentive programs and technical support to encourage small-scale farming and farmers’ markets within the city.  “I would certainly expect that the food and agriculture elements of the plan will impact access to fresh food” says Horvath.

The Comprehensive Plan supports pre-existing agriculture projects.  Troy Gardens, a 31-acre agricultural site within Madison -- home to 340 family garden plots and a 5-acre farm – provides weekly fresh, organic produce to its members and home-grown produce to the families that farm there.  The comprehensive plan permanently set aside Troy Garden’s land for agriculture use, acknowledging its value in the local food system.   

The Plan’s intent to expand urban agriculture initiatives within the city is already having an impact.  One example is the re-development project that the city is working on called the Southwest Neighborhood Plan -- a region that encompasses 5 neighborhoods within the city.  Last year, as part of the Plan, the city broke ground on a new community garden with 30 plots.  The city is also looking into starting a new farmers’ market as part of the project.

Perhaps the most ambitious project that has grown out of the Comprehensive Plan and the Healthy City Initiative are the current efforts to build an indoor City Market, where local farmers could sell their products during the winter.  In keeping with Madison’s commitment to community health, the market would be located off State Street – a major downtown thoroughfare that has been set aside for sole use by bicyclists, pedestrians, and public transit.

Escondido, California

The Escondido Interim Land-Use Policy

When Jerry Van Leeuwen, Director of Housing and Neighborhood Services in Escondido, California, went to the planning department with an idea for a progressive policy that had potential to increase fresh food access, he wasn’t thinking about eating behaviors or health.  “It started with the specific and went more global.  We were trying to remove unsightly properties and, at the same time, there was a growing interest in community gardening.  This led to the idea that you could put community gardens in a vacant lot.”

Van Leeuwen had been attending trainings on using policy to create healthier cities.  “Through these trainings I had heard about a similar policy in Park City Utah.”  At the same time, a successful community gardens program was gaining momentum and master gardeners and residents alike were calling for additional community gardens.

The policy allows owners of vacant land to allow community use through a mutual agreement between the land owner, community groups, and the city.  In essence, it provides a loophole by waiving traditional zoning requirements and expediting a no-fee permit process; the city absorbs the liability.  “We want it to be a tool that groups have in their back pocket when they’ve already made the decision to do the right thing.  The big advantage is that there are less hoops to jump through,” says Van Leeuwen.

The policy was used by one Vietnam Veterans group who donated their property to create thirty-five garden plots for community use.  The neighborhood is multi-ethnic and predominately Latino.  “These residents have gained access to fresh produce,” says Van Leeuwen.

Keys to Success: Adopting and Implementing Local Food Systems Policy

Involving stakeholders and decision makers in a policy’s development and seeking out local elected officials who support your policy are two key elements to success.  Madison was lucky to have a mayor that saw the connection between food systems and community health.  “He understands the importance of farmers and the environmental determinants of health” says Horvath.  In addition, one of the planning commissioners has a history of supporting local agriculture.  But city planning also conducted a lot of outreach on the plan.  “We involved all relevant agencies – public works, parks division, the office of business resources, and community services – and held many community meetings where we presented sections of the plan to the public” says Horvath.

Another key to success: frame the policy in a way that ties in with local elected officials’ agendas.  In Escondido, where there wasn’t strong initiative by local elected officials, Van Leeuwen took a different approach.  He recommends working with the decision makers to find common ground on issues that are important to them.  Van Leeuwen approached the policy from a neighborhood beautification standpoint – which was important to the city council.  The policy also had visible support from community residents and the local gardens committee.  By working with the council’s priorities and gaining residents’ support, projects that were important to the community – like community gardens – were able to emerge under the protection of the policy.

Both Horvath and Van Leeuwen commented that there is still more that can be done within the policies.  “Sometimes there is initial enthusiasm [among land owners and user groups], but no follow through,” says Van Leeuwen.  Horvath notes a similar concern with leadership, “there are different levels of investment, and you get a new set of policy makers on the commission every few years.”  She also notes that the Comprehensive Plan would be even stronger had it contained concrete measures of implementation.

Despite these concerns, both policies represent promising land-use strategies that local communities can use to support urban agriculture, increasing access to fresh food and creating a community that supports healthy eating. 

 

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