Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type:
To: City Council
Subject: City Council Workshop on Local Food Production Date: June 30, 2022
Written by: Autumn Buss, Associate Planner
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council conduct a workshop with the goals of 1) identifying potential strategies to promote local food production (urban agriculture) in order to implement General Plan policies, 2) receiving community input, and 3) providing appropriate direction to staff for follow-up and inclusion into a future ordinance. It is further recommended that the City Council direct staff to prepare for the Council’s consideration a property re-zoning and Zoning Code amendment for Veronda- Falletti Ranch.
I. Background
The General Plan includes a number of goals to promote local food production and increase access to healthy food in Cotati. For example, the General Plan supports the development of appropriate agriculture in residential and open space zones, strengthening of local food systems including community gardens and community supported agriculture, and diversification of local economic activities. (See Attachment 3: General Plan Goals Related to Local Food Production)
Definition of “Urban Agriculture”
The General Plan makes a number of references to the importance of supporting “urban agriculture,” and this term is in general usage throughout the U.S. to refer to local food production in urban, suburban, and urban-rural fringe areas—typically on a smaller scale than more conventional farming operations taking place on many-acre parcels in rural areas.
The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Program (UCANR) defines urban agriculture as follows: “Urban agriculture includes production, distribution, and marketing of food and other products within the cores of metropolitan areas and at their edges. Examples include community, school, backyard, and rooftop gardens with a purpose extending beyond home consumption and education, urban market gardens, innovative food-production methods that maximize production in a small area, community supported agriculture based in urban areas, and family farms located in metropolitan greenbelts.” In its references to “urban agriculture,” Cotati’s General Plan appears to be consistent with the definition put forth by the UCANR. However, in keeping with the small-town character of Cotati, this staff report uses the term “local food production” as more appropriate to this community, but with the same basic meaning as UCANR’s definition of urban agriculture.
Previous Actions
In Summer 2021, the owner of an 8-acre property in the southern part of Cotati zoned Residential Very Low Density (RVL) approached City staff to express interest in creating a commercial farm on the property, and was informed that this is prohibited as the RVL zoning does not allow the Crop Production or Produce Stand land uses. At the September 28, 2021 Council meeting, under “Direction on Future Agenda Items” Councilmember Sparks proposed a discussion on urban agriculture zoning policies. The task of drafting an “Agricultural Zoning Amendment” was subsequently added to the Community Development Department’s workplan, and at its October 26, 2021 meeting, the Council supported the goal of staff preparing a proposed zoning amendment for consideration in early 2022.
Accordingly, staff developed a proposed urban agriculture Zoning Code amendment ordinance, with the primary focus to reduce administrative hurdles and increase the financial feasibility of small commercial urban gardens and farms.
On March 7, 2022, the Cotati Planning Commission held a public hearing on the proposed urban agriculture ordinance, and voted to recommend that the City Council adopt the ordinance.
On March 22, 2022, the City Council held a public hearing to consider the proposed ordinance, and voted to reject the ordinance in light of the need for more discussion and consideration of a broader range of potential options and impact reduction, directing staff to prepare a workshop for the Council to hear more community input and consider a variety of strategies.
II. Analysis/Discussion
Local Food Production (Urban Agriculture) Regulations in Cotati Currently, local food production may be accomplished in several ways in Cotati, in terms of zoning regulations:
1. Home gardens for personal food production are permitted by-right (P) in all residential zones.
2. Crop Production for commercial purposes, including “retail sales in the field,” is allowed with a Use Permit (UP) in the Rural Residential (RR) zoning district.
3. Farm stands accessory to a Crop Production use are allowed with a Minor Use Permit (MUP) in the RR zone.
4. Community Gardens are allowed with a MUP in all residential districts and the Open Space-Recreation (OSR) zone.
5. Up to 20 chickens for non-commercial purposes are allowed by-right per property in the RR, Residential Very Low (RVL), and Neighborhood-Low Density (NL) districts, with a zoning clearance letter in the Neighborhood-Medium Density (NM) and Neighborhood-Urban (NU) districts, and in residential uses in all commercial districts. (Roosters are allowed only in the RR district.) For more detailed information, see Attachment 4: Current Zoning Code Definitions Related to Agriculture, including Crop Production, Produce Stands, and Community Gardens; Attachment 5: Zoning District Subdivision and Density Standards, including a table of minimum parcel size and allowed residential density for Cotati’s zoning districts; and Attachment 6: Cotati Zoning District Map, for reference.
Comparative Context
Since the goal of this workshop is to identify potential additional strategies that the City of Cotati may wish to pursue in order to promote local food production, it may be helpful to review other cities’ regulations.
Several of the jurisdictions in Sonoma County have zoning regulations that are more permissive than Cotati’s in relation to urban agriculture. This is particularly the case in relation to crop production, which is allowed in lower-density residential districts by- right in Sebastopol, Petaluma, Windsor, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, and the unincorporated County, and with a minor or major use permit in some of the higher-density districts. See Attachment 7: Urban Agriculture Regulations in Sonoma County, for more details and a comparison of the regulations of each of the cities and the County.
A commonality among Sonoma County’s cities, however, is that they do not address different scales and intensities of crop production, farming, and related sales. Crop production and on-site produce stands are often treated with one-size-fits-all zoning designations. However, there are jurisdictions elsewhere in California and the U.S. that have begun differentiating between the types of farming operations that are possible within city limits, and the zoning rules that might best apply to them. In California, three examples are Sacramento, Oroville, and National City. Each of these cities allows smallerscale commercial gardening and farming in its residential neighborhoods by- right, differentiating between such operations and larger-scale, more conventional agriculture, and setting specific limitations and performance standards to reduce neighborhood impacts.
See Attachment 8: Sacramento, Oroville, and National City Examples Table, Attachment 9: City of Sacramento Urban Agriculture Regulations, Attachment 10:
City of Oroville Agriculture Regulations, and Attachment 11: City of National City Urban Agriculture Regulations for more information.
Potential Actions
Drawing on the idea of tailoring the regulation of local food production based on scale and intensity, Attachment 1: Potential Strategies to Implement General Plan Policies Related to Food Production lists a “menu” of potential actions that the City could consider pursuing. The list is divided into categories: Crop Production, Produce Stands and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Community Gardens, and Animal Keeping, and offers a range of regulatory approaches for different scales of food production activity that might be feasible in Cotati. For each strategy, the General Plan goals potentially addressed are noted, along with previous direction if any from the Planning Commission. It is recommended that the Council use this list as a guide to discussion during the workshop and as a tool to provide specific direction to staff.
The most significant feature of the Potential Strategies is the option of adding a new land use, “Market Garden,” to the Zoning Code that would recognize and provide an approval framework for a smaller-scale, lower-intensity version of agriculture than that anticipated by the existing Crop Production land use. The Market Garden land use could be considered for some or all of the residential zoning districts, with approval set at the by- right, MUP, or UP levels. Market Gardens would grow food for sale or donation and could be allowed a temporary on-site produce stand. Potential operational and performance standards could include limited work hours, limited mechanical equipment, limits on cultivation area, limits on produce stand days, hours, and size, and other limits. Further details are included in Attachment 1: Potential Strategies to Implement General Plan Policies Related to Food Production.
Veronda-Falletti Ranch
Veronda-Falletti Ranch can be an important component to the City’s efforts to promote local food production. The City partnered with the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District (SCAPOSD) to purchase the 4.37-acre historic ranch in 2008, with the goal of preserving the property as a demonstration farm with animals, agriculture, and farm-based educational activities. The conservation easement on the property held by SCAPOSD allows for agricultural, historic, educational, and recreational uses; residential uses beyond caretaker quarters in the historic farmhouse on the site are prohibited. In Fall 2018, the City signed a license agreement with the nonprofit Farmster to begin operations and stewardship of Veronda-Falletti Ranch as a demonstration farm. This was extended in 2021, as well as expanded to a second licensee (Ammamma Tati).
The current zoning for Veronda-Falletti Ranch, Neighborhood-Low Density (NL), does not currently allow the activities stipulated by the conservation easement and to which the City has committed in its license agreements for the property. Rezoning the property to Open Space-Recreation (OSR) has been recommended by staff as an appropriate strategy to move forward, as it would allow community use of the site as a public recreation area and removes the residential designation.
However, the OSR zoning district does not currently allow many of the uses that have been identified for the Veronda-Falletti Ranch property. Therefore, staff further recommends that the Council consider amending the Zoning Code to allow a broader array of uses in OSR— with appropriate regulatory review and approval such as a UP— including the following:
Crop production, artisan/craft product manufacturing, plant nursery, community garden, meeting facility, caretaker quarters, farmers market, produce stand, child care/day care center, animal keeping, agricultural accessory structure, and community supported agriculture. See Attachment 2: Veronda-Falletti Ranch Potential Strategies for more information.
IV. Summary and Staff Recommendation
It is recommended by the Community Development Department that the City Council conduct a workshop with the goals of 1) identifying potential strategies to promote local food production (urban agriculture) in order to implement General Plan policies, 2) receiving community input, and 3) providing appropriate direction to staff for follow-up. It is further recommended that the City Council direct staff to prepare for the Council’s consideration a property re-zoning and Zoning Code amendment for Veronda-Falletti Ranch, as described above.
Attachments:
1. Potential Strategies to Implement General Plan Policies Related to Food Production
2. Veronda-Falletti Ranch Potential Strategies
3. General Plan Goals Related to Local Food Production
4. Current Zoning Code Definitions Related to Agriculture
5. Zoning District Subdivision and Density Standards
6. Cotati Zoning District Map
7. Urban Agriculture Regulations in Sonoma County
8. Sacramento, Oroville, and National City Examples Table
9. City of Sacramento Urban Agriculture Regulations
10. Excerpts from City of Oroville Code related to Local Food Production
11. Excerpts of City of National City Code Related to Local Food Production
12. Staff Presentation Powerpoint for Workshop
Attachments:
Attachment 1 Potential Strategies to Promote Local Food Production (PDF) Attachment 2 Falletti Ranch Potential Strategies (PDF)
Attachment 3 General Plan Goals Related to Local Food Production (PDF) Attachment 4 Current Cotati Zoning Code Definitions Related to Agriculture (PDF) Attachment 5 City of Cotati Zoning District Subdivision and Density Standards (PDF) Attachment 6 Cotati Zoning District Map (PNG)
Attachment 7 Local Urban Agriculture Comparison Table (PDF) Attachment 8 Sacramento, Oroville, and National City Summaries (PDF) Attachment 9 City of Sacramento Urban Agriculture Regulations (PDF) Attachment 10 Excerpt of Oroville Zoning Code on Urban Agriculture (PDF) Attachment 11 Excerpt from National City Zoning Code (PDF) Attachment 12 Staff Presentation Powerpoint for Workshop(PDF)