Growing the vegetables and flowers is the easy part. But just ask Meekins what the group went through to build a simple greenhouse with donated materials.
It's a three-year tale of permits, reviews, site plan requirements and endless rounds of meetings with the city Planning Commission...
It's not that Flint officials are opposed to residents growing their own food in backyards or on nearly 2,800 vacant residential lots within the city limits (a list that's still growing to the tune of about 500 vacant lots per year).
The problem is the laws on the books simply predate the city's new urban reality.
"The zoning ordinance hasn't been revised since 1968, when we were a booming industrial city and didn't have to think about agriculture as part of city planning," said Erin Caudell, a technical assistant for the urban agriculture collaborative and the outreach coordinator for the Ruth Mott Foundation's Applewood program.
The entire article is a fascinating and worthy read. I'm thrilled Flint is addressing this, and I wish San Diego would too. I don't know the extent of the difficulties in San Diego, but I know they exist. You can spend a lot of money on all of the necessary permits and whatnot before you even plant a seed. Regulations here are not intended for community gardens and that's why they are so unsuitable and difficult for them. The question is how do we fix the laws so that we can meet our needs?
