[Community_garden] Sacramento - Veggies in the Front Yard

[Bill Maynard]

You might have remembered a posting I made about 2 years ago on the
woman in Sacramento that was almost cited for growing vegetables in the
front yard.  Here is an up date; after almost 3 years the vote will go
to council March 20 at 7:30pm.  In the past few months we have made
progress to move revising the city code forward. 

 

As written in 1943, the code only allows turf and low growing ground
cover, not even trees or shrubs are mentioned.  In 2005, We first tried
to add vegetables under perennials and annuals, which got rejected by
the citys law and legislative committee, the code was rewritten by the
city attorney to restrict vegetable to only 20% of the front yard.  The
code also allows up to 50% of the yard to be concrete (rather see
concrete and vegetables or diverse landscapes?) This was not acceptable
by the local gardeners who tried to get the code revised again.  At the
second hearing nearly a year later, the law and legislative committee
approved a special section on vegetables that still limited vegetable to
30% of the front yard (motions of no restrictions and 50% limitation
were not seconded).  We were ok with the increase as we needed to go to
the next step and get past the law and legislative committee.  Next stop
was the city planning commission on jan11 2007, where they saw the light
and all agreed unanimously to remove the section on vegetables and
eliminate any restrictions on vegetables in the front yard.  As the
planning commission is an advisory committee, the city requires that any
code revisions go to council.  So March 20 2007, almost 3 years later
(May 2004) we will know the out come of this effort.  I will keep you
posted.

 

As the city has a food charter that address access to food, has signed
the united nations environmental accords (june 2005 - summit of world
mayors), and has since move forward on a sustainability agenda, we are
hopeful that they will be able to agree with the need for more access to
vegetables by all.  In reality how many would plant a whole front yard
of vegetables? Not many, but knowing that you could is a comforting
feeling.

 

Give Peas a Chance in the Front Yard !

 

Bill Maynard

Sacramento Citizens for Sustainable Landscapes

maddog at ulink.net

 

 

 

 

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