Today, the Planning and Zoning Committee of the Kansas City, MO City Council meets once again to take up the issue of urban agriculture in the city’s many diverse neighborhoods. At the last hearing, the committee focused on details of regulating urban agriculture. Some of the ideas that were floated made good sense to us, others would place new and burdensome restrictions on the act of growing healthy food for Kansas City neighborhoods.
The City Council has an opportunity to give residents the choice of neighborhood-based access to locally grown food and neighborhood-based green businesses and jobs. It has an opportunity to step forward and embrace urban agriculture as one of many effective strategies for community development, healthy eating, and neighborhood revitalization. They need your support though to be creative and forward thinking on the question of growing food in Kansas City neighborhoods, so your presence at the hearing will be important!
The group of residents, growers and health activists that have been working on this are supporting amendments to the proposed ordinance that would allow for a grower (whether private or a non profit organization) to apply for a Special Use Permit if they want to sell their home-grown produce on site and if they want to create employment opportunities in urban agriculture. A special use permit isn’t ideal to our minds, but it would give individual communities the power to define for themselves what makes for a healthy, live-able and quality neighborhood.
Please show up today for the Hearing!
Wednesday, May 12, 1:30 pm, 10th Floor, City Hall
414 E. 12th, Street, Kansas City, MO
Come early, the room they have moved the hearing to will seat fewer people- we want to make sure that the people who support Kansas City taking steps to become a growing community are in the room!
Katherine Kelly
Executive Director, Farmer
KC Center for Urban Agriculture
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