TO ALL SOMERVILLIANS WHO LOVE AND SUPPORT URBAN AGRICULTURE - please come to a city
board meeting on Thursday evening at 6pm at City Hall to support our new
urban ag ordinances!
From a recent email from a new friend who works with the City:
There will be a Board of Alderman meeting at City Hall on Thursday (the
17th) at 6pm where they will hopefully approve new ordinances to
support and encourage growing food in
Somerville, including bee and chicken keeping. Even though people of
course have been growing for ages, only a few other cities specifically
have ordinances supporting it so Somerville is definitely ahead of the
curve...exciting stuff! The Mayor is also really excited about
encouraging the selling of food grown in backyards or urban farms like
South Street (Groundwork and Green City Growers new site).
The ordinances were written based on examples of what other cities are
doing, and from local conversations as well. Some major things to note
from the attached document are:
You can now sell produce you
have grown in your backyard or on city owned land with the following
restrictions: On-site sale of products from these uses are allowed
subject to the following provisions: 1) Sales of produce shall be
permitted between the hours of 8:00am and 6:00pm, May 1 – Oct. 31 of
each year; 2) Sales shall be permitted not more than three (3) days per
week; 3) Sales shall be permitted no more than twenty-five (25) days per
year; 4) No sales display or structure shall be located on public
sidewalk, street or block vehicle and pedestrian flow; 5) Sales display,
structure, and signage must be stored out of site while not in use; 6)
Signage shall be limited to one (1) sign and not exceed 64 square
inches; and, 7) Proof of annual soil testing must be posted during all
sales. (PAGE 7)
Honey bees shall be subject to the following
rules: 1) Honey bees may be kept per 7.11.4.k on residential properties
only; 2) ownership, care and control of the honey bees shall be
responsibility of a resident of the dwelling on the lot; 3) a maximum of
2 colonies may be kept on a lot, although Health regulations may
further limit the number and/or manner of keeping of honey bees on lots;
4) structures for honey bees are subject to applicable accessory
structure setback requirements, and 5) Honey bees and beekeeping
materials are not permitted in front yards or in side yards that abut
streets.
Hens shall be subject to the following rules: 1) Hens
may be kept per 7.11.4.k on residential properties only; 2) ownership,
care and control of the hens shall be responsibility of a resident of
the dwelling on the lot; 3) a maximum of 6 hens may be kept on a lot,
although Health regulations may further limit the number and/or manner
of keeping of hens on lots; 4) no roosters may be kept on lots in
Somerville; 5) henhouses are subject to applicable accessory structure
setback requirements and, 6) Hens and henhouses are not permitted in
front yards or in side yards that abut streets.
No comments:
Post a Comment