Click here to skip to main content.
scenic picture from Washington state
Subjects › Parks and Recreation › Urban Agriculture - Community Gardening
Updated 01/2012

Urban Agriculture - Community Gardening

Contents

About Urban Agriculture and Community Gardening

According to the USDA, around 15 percent of the world's food is now grown in urban areas. City and suburban agriculture takes the form of backyard, roof-top and balcony gardening, community gardening in vacant lots and parks, roadside urban fringe agriculture and livestock grazing in open space. The focus of this page is to provide background resources for Washington local government policy makers on opportunities to enhance sustainability by encouraging gardening in urban settings.

Community gardens promote healthy communities and provide food security for many low income persons. In an urban setting, community gardens are part of the open space network. The gardens and those who participate in community gardening contribute to the preservation of open space, provide access to it, and create sustainable uses of the space. Community gardens strengthen community bonds, provide food, and create recreational and therapeutic opportunities for a community. They can also promote environmental awareness and provide community education.

One of the goals to create healthy communities is to improve nutrition in the community as a whole. These strategies are described in the Washington State Nutrition and Physical Activity Plan (NPASP) developed by DOH and its partners. Washington's strategic plan has among its objectives increasing access to health promoting foods. An example is increasing the availability of and access to local community gardens. Healthy Communities Pilot Projects are testing the effectiveness of the plan strategies in local communities. Moses Lake's Healthy Communities Project includes a community garden.

Public community garden programs are generally administered by the community development or parks department. In Seattle the city-wide community gardening program is under the Department of Neighborhoods. Other gardening programs involve public and private schools and other institutions. Some jurisdictions are changing policies to encourage residents to plant vegetables and other edible foods and allow a limited number of farm animals, such as chickens in the city.

Relationship to Food Security and Healthy Communities

Community Garden Programs (Public)

Community gardens exist in, or are being built in many Washington communities. A number of cities have garden websites including: Anacortes, Bonney Lake, Bremerton, Davenport, Duvall, Langley, Puyallup, Sammamish, Tacoma. A few have been highlighted below.

Washington Samples

Out-of-State Samples

Community Gardens and Youth

  • GRub Youth Programs - Garden-Raised Bounty (GRuB) a nonprofit working empowering people and growing good food in Thurston & Mason counties. Among its programs, it provides agriculture-based education, employment and dropout programs for youth. In partnership with the Olympia School District, GRuB is currently planning a pilot project with Olympia High School.
  • Puget Sound School Garden's Collective - Highlights some of our many school gardens in the Puget Sound and offers ideas for curriculum, volunteer opportunities and ideas for starting a school garden program.
  • Seattle Youth Garden Works - Job skills training program for youth
  • Youth Gardening, American Horticulture Association

School Gardens

Zoning and Policy

Sample Zoning and Policy Provisions Washington Local Governments

  • Seattle Department of Planning and Development Urban Agriculture - Provides quick references to Seattle documents
  • Seattle Ordinance No. 123378 - Amends the title of subchapter II of Chapter 23.44, to support urban agriculture, to modify restrictions on greenhouses and solariums and on the keeping of domestic fowl, to clarify and modify definitions for key terms related to urban agriculture, passed 08/2010
  • Seattle Department of Planning and Community Development Client Assistance Memo No. 244, Rev. 10/20/2010 (Adobe Acrobat Document), Urban Agriculture - Green Building CAM

Sample Zoning and Policy Provisions Out-of-State

  • Boston Redevelopment Authority Zoning Code, Article 33 - Open Space Subdistrict (Adobe Acrobat Document) - Includes creation of community garden open space subdistrict
  • San Francisco Mayor Lee Signs Urban Agriculture Legislation for Greater Local Food Production in SF, Office of the Mayor Press Release, 04/20/2011
    • San Francisco Ordinance No. 66-11 (Adobe Acrobat Document 35 MB) - Urban agriculture amendments to planning code, passed by Board of Supervisors 04/12/2011, signed by Mayor 04/20/2011
  • Kansas City, MO Ordinance No. 100299 (Adobe Acrobat Document) - Amending Chapter 88, Zoning and Development Code ...and adding a new Section 88-312, Agriculture, all to provide for and regulate urban agriculture; and directing the City Manager to make certain reports to the Council regarding this ordinance, passed 06/2010

Resources for Urban Agriculture and Community Gardening

Organizations