The Nitty Gritty of Seattle’s Urban Ag Code Changes

Seattle City Council unanimously voted to pass the urban agriculture land use code amendments yesterday (with the exception of Councilmember Jean Godden who was not present when the vote took place). These amendments were drafted in response to the Local Food Action Initiative’s call on the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) to find ways to promote growing food in the city.

Throughout the process, the largest debate on these code amendments swirled around chickens. At first, it was proposed that roosters be banned in the city. But an appearance by a local urban farmer, her children and her rooster at a council meeting seemed to sway councilmembers to drop that part of the proposed legislation. (Council President Richard Conlin and Councilmember Mike O’Brien seemed to be convinced that the problems some roosters present were covered by the noise ordinance.)

At a subsequent meeting on these code changes, however, a number of concerned citizens came to fight for their right for a rooster-less city during the public comment period, citing noise as a major nuisance that is not adequately enforced under the noise ordinance. As a result, roosters were once again on the chopping block, and were outlawed from the city with yesterday’s vote. However, current rooster owners should not fret as their boys are grandfathered in.

Though roosters are now disallowed, ambitious urban farmers can expand their domestic fowl flock from three to eight (females only) and can reap the copious egg rewards. However, new coops must be set up no closer than 10 feet from neighboring structures.  To ensure noise and smell were not problematic for neighbors, the previous round of revisions included a limitation on where domestic fowl could be kept, disallowing chicken coops from being built within 10 feet of a property line.  Yesterday, Conlin proposed a last minute amendment to the bill that changed this to a 10-foot setback from other structures, not from property boundaries. (Immediately preceding the vote, Councilmember Sally Bagshaw expressed her support of the prohibition of roosters and limitation on coop placement.)

Urban farms have now been officially defined as “a use in which plants are grown for sale of the plants or their products, and in which the plants or their products are sold at the lot where they are grown or off site, or both, and in which no other items are sold,” and are permitted in any zone. Permits for urban farms in residential zones are not required as long as the planting area is less than 4,000 sq. ft. and accessory to a residential use. (An urban farm established on a vacant lot is required to get a permit.) Urban farms with planting areas over 4,000 sq. ft. require an administrative conditional use permit. Any structures used for the urban farm may not exceed 1,000 sq. feet or 12 feet in height, and industrial-sized, mechanical farm equipment may not be operated.

Food produced on-site can be sold from your doorstep. But before you set up shop, be sure to familiarize yourself with the restrictions:

• only one sign is allowed per site and may not be larger than 64 sq. inches
• hours of sale are limited to begin no earlier than 7:00 a.m. and must end by 7:00 p.m., and may not take place in public right-of-way spaces (such as roads, sidewalks)
• processed foods for sale require a permit from King County Public Health and must be made with ingredients grown on-site

Community gardens are now permitted in all zones, but in industrial zones they are restricted to taking on the form of rooftop or vertical garden. Unlike urban farms, however, no produce that has been grown in community gardens can be sold.

In multifamily, commercial, industrial, and downtown zones, greenhouses upon rooftops can exceed maximum height restrictions by up to 15 feet, as long as they are dedicated to food production.

Before she cast her vote, Councilmember Sally Clark spoke about how excited she was to support this important legislation that would encourage a “micro-agricultural economy,” and would allow more choices to people who want to have a “smaller footprint” when it comes to their food. Conlin stated in a press release that the code changes “will strengthen our community food security.”

For more details about the code changes, check out the bill itself.

**8/27 Editor’s Note: Mayor McGinn has signed the legislation, and the changes will officially take effect 9/23/2010.

Related posts:

1. Seattle City Council Passes Urban Ag Code Changes!
2. Seattle Considering Urban Agriculture Code Amendments
3. Proposed Seattle Code Changes Support and Encourage Urban Agriculture

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