Pittsburgh’s urban agriculture community showed up in full-force yesterday at a public hearing to address proposed zoning that could impact city gardeners and keepers of bees and chickens. After hearing several hours of comments, the commission suggested the city planning department work with the local urban agriculture organizations to develop a set of ordinances that suit for everyone’s best interests.
The City’s proposed urban agriculture ordinance is a “good first step for the city to take on urban agriculture issues in a real, formal way,” says Julie Pezzino with Grow Pittsburgh. But there are a number of aspects of the ordinance that can be improved upon to really encourage healthy local food systems and reuse of vacant land, say leaders in the local food community, including Burgh Bees, the East End Food Co-op, Penn State Cooperative Extension, Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture and Pittsburgh Food Policy Council.
Concerns addressed permit fees in excess of $300, which could serve as a barrier to residents, especially in low-income, historically disadvantaged areas where many vacant lots are already thriving as urban gardens.
