Seattle Food System Update Being Presented to Sustainability Committee Tomorrow

April 5th, 2010 by Diana

Seattle Food System Update Being Presented to Sustainability Committee Tomorrow

Seattle City Council’s Committee on Regional Development and Sustainability will be receiving an update tomorrow on the Local Food Action Initiative, the Food System Interdepartmental Team Statement of Legislative Intent Response ,and Parks Levy Community Gardens. A summary of each item has been provided below. For more detailed information, please click here to view the meeting agenda. You can also view the live meeting online starting at 2:00 pm tomorrow on the Seattle Channel.

Local Food Action Initiative

The Local Food Action Initiative–adopted in 2007–provides a comprehensive foundation for the city’s food system planning efforts. In the intervening years, the city has taken various steps to implement components of the initiative such as the drafting of a Food Action Plan, the establishment of a Farmers’ Market at City Hall and the securing of a USDA Grant to address issues of food security. This year, which the city has announced as the Year of Urban Agriculture, represents the biggest push in getting the initiative implemented. Here’s a complete list of the action items being planned for 2010. It’s our role to ensure the city accomplishes this list of goals.

Declare 2010 as the Year of Urban Agriculture and organize a series of events and public engagement programs to provide resources and encourage people to grow food and increase the number of gardens in Seattle.
Launch a web portal to provide information and coordinate activities.
Continue the work on the $300,000 Community Food Grant from the US Department of Agriculture in support of actions to provide local, healthy foods in low income neighborhoods of SE and West Seattle through a series of programs, including a Healthy Corner Store initiative in Delridge, developing a new food bank garden at Seattle Housing Authority’s Rainier Vista housing development, and supporting the Clean Greens Farm and Farmers Market in the Central Area.
Approve and implement a Food System Policy Plan for the City of Seattle.
Update the work on hunger programs with United Way and expand the Giving Garden program.
Launch teaching gardens and more community kitchen projects at Community Centers and work with the Parks Department to consider a community greenhouse project in Rainier Beach.
Use Parks Levy and other funding to continue to expand the P-Patch program to serve additional households, and adopt a P-Patch Strategic Plan for the next five years.
Implement a Transfer of Development Rights program in cooperation with King County to protect farms that provide produce for Seattle’s Farmers Markets, and work with King County on other steps to protect and encourage active agricultural uses for King County farmland.
Establish and secure funding for the Regional Food Policy Council authorized by the Puget Sound Regional Council, and assist in developing a state Food Policy Forum.
Work with the Health Department on their “Communities Putting Prevention to Work” grant to support community kitchens and market gardens and take steps to provide access to fresh fruits and vegetables in ‘food deserts’.
Work with the Health Department to extend and expand nutritional labels in restaurants. Support pilot programs for collecting food waste in multi-family buildings.
Organize a Community Good Food Summit and work with the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture to organize an Urban Agriculture conference.
Explore a payroll deduction program for City employees to participate in Community Supported Agriculture programs.
Work with community partners to evaluate creating a Seattle branch of “Growing Power”, a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities.
Assist neighborhoods to include community food planning in the neighborhood planning process by providing encouragement and planning tools.
Work with community –led projects to coordinate and strengthen their effectiveness.
Assist in developing educational forums for elected leaders in the region.
Work with immigrants and refugees and organizations to expand opportunities for market gardening.
Develop a strategic plan and a series of reports on options for expanding economic activity and jobs in the local food economy, and develop an alliance with Eastern Washington to market Washington grown food in urban areas, including a new Washington-grown organic product brand and sponsoring a trade fair at the Convention Center for Washington agricultural producers.
Adopt land use code changes that define ‘Community Garden’ and allow them outright in all zones, define ‘Urban Farm’ and allow specific appropriate models in each zone, allow people in residential zones to grow and sell unprocessed produce on their property, implement urban agriculture as an accessory use through the Living Building pilot program, expand the Seattle Green Factor requirements (including a food production bonus) to low-rise zones, review the Land Use Code to ensure the encouragement of small and mid size grocery stores in Neighborhood Commercial and Commercial zones, and define Farmers’ Markets as an outright permitted use while exploring zoning incentives to encourage permanent Farmers’ Markets.
Continue to operate the City Hall Farmers’ Market and encourage the expansion and location of other Farmers’ Markets around the City.

Food System Interdepartmental Team

In 2009, City Council approved Statement of Legislative Intent 113-1-A-2, requesting “…the Department of Neighborhoods in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office, Department of Planning and Development, Parks Department, Department of Human Services, Department of Transportation, Office of Economic Development, Office of Sustainability, Seattle King County Public Health Department, the Legislative Department and other appropriate departments establish a Food System Interdepartmental Team (IDT)” by March 30, 2010.

In partnership with Seattle City Council, the Mayor’s Office, and community groups, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods (DON)and other departments have been stewarding food-related efforts for several years. As such, the establishment of a formal city-wide Food Systems IDT creates a working group to coordinate these efforts, such as land use code changes to remove barriers to urban agriculture; strengthen cross-departmental collaboration, develop interdepartmental agreements on the use of city land; and provide a venue for sharing new ideas and implementation strategies. The team is tasked with developing a realistic work plan to implement the policies and recommendations of the Food Systems Action Plan, scheduled to be released in the second quarter of 2010.

DON recognizes that the city is facing significant budget challenges. At this time, IDT staffing is absorbed by existing department and agency staff. However, budget and staffing challenges may impact the departments’ abilities to dedicate resources to the IDT. On January 25, DON Director Stella Chao contacted directors from 14 city departments and offices to request a staff representative to serve on the Food IDT. These agencies were identified because of their existing work on food-related issues, such as food production, land use allowances, food waste diversion, and food security.

Due to budget cuts and staffing constraints, a handful of departments expressed interest to participate and appointed staff to the IDT. Others expressed that they were unable to represent their department or office at this time due to staff time constraints. Some of these departments have since been contacted by the Mayor’s office and asked to participate.

The inaugural IDT meeting was Monday, February 22 and convened representatives from 11 departments and agencies: Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Seattle Department of Transportation, Seattle Parks and Recreation, Department of Planning and Development, Office of Economic Development, Office of Emergency Management, Office of Housing, Human Services Department, Seattle King County Public Health, Seattle Public Utilities, and Council Central Staff. A review of current and recent past work on food systems was shared, and the team purpose and goals were discussed.

The team plans to meet regularly on the first Thursday of the month to develop a work plan and help steward the implementation of the Food Systems Action Plan, which is planned to be released during second quarter. Their last meeting was held last week on Thursday, April 1.

Parks Levy Community Gardens

The City of Seattle’s P-Patch Community Gardening Program operates more municipally-run gardens per capita than any other metropolitan U.S. city. P-Patches are one of the city’s resources to address issues regarding local food production, environmental sustainability, public safety, isolation, mental and physical health, volunteerism, civic engagement, and food security. Increasingly longer waitlists are one indicator demonstrating the need for more community gardens.

The success of Seattle’s P-Patch program is largely due to community-building as its foundation. New and expanded garden developments represent partnerships between community members and the City of Seattle. Community members lead the organizing, planning, designing, and constructing. In most cases, community groups also raise all the funds for development through the Neighborhood Matching Fund and other private and public resources.

In 2008, the City of Seattle voters passed the $146 million Parks and Green Spaces Levy, which included $2 million for P-Patch and other community garden development projects. Seattle Department of Neighborhoods (DON) directly stewards the P-Patch portion of the levy for new garden development. Last year, DON presented a list of 17 first-round projects to the Parks Levy Oversight Committee. The committee approved the project list at their June meeting in 2009.

Four communities have organized and completed development of their gardens in partnership with DON: Spring Street, West Genesee, Hazel Heights, and an expansion of Marra Farm. Three more communities—Eastlake, John and Summit, and Alki/Admiral–are now in the midst of developing expansions of their existing P-Patches.

The Marra Farm expansion, in particular, opened up three large tracts for a market gardening pilot project. This project allows three low-income gardeners and their families to not only grow food for their tables, but to sell supplemental produce as a means to extend their income. It also serves as a potential urban farming model for using city land for more meaningful levels of food production.

To date, $254,583.63 has been charged against the Levy, including $150,000 directed to the parks-managed John and Summit Park project.

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