Urban Ag Incentives Adopted in Santa Clara County and Sacramento

Garden to Table's urban farm in San Jose. Photo by Eli Zigas.

This fall, multiple jurisdictions have followed San Francisco’s model and created urban agriculture incentive zones or have taken official steps toward doing so. (For background on the incentive and how it works, see our earlier blog post).

In September, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors created the state's first urban agriculture incentive zone in the unincorporated areas of a county. The board, at the urging of Supervisors Yeager and Wasserman, also gave the green light to the majority of the county’s cities to create incentive zones within their own boundaries. That’s important because the greatest potential for urban agriculture incentive zones in the county is within San Jose’s city limits. In unincorporated areas of the county, there are 37 parcels, according to the county assessor, that may be eligible following criteria established in state law. In contrast, urban farming advocates at Garden to Table estimate there are nearly 600 eligible sites in San Jose. The City of San Jose held its first hearing last week about adopting an urban agriculture incentive zone when it considered a proposal from Councilmembers Raul Peralez and Magdalena Carrasco and Mayor Sam Liccardo.

Meanwhile, the City of Sacramento became the second city in the state to create an incentive zone when the city council passed its ordinance in early August. The city is now accepting applications.

All the action, however, isn’t just in Northern California. Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors passed a motion on September 22 instructing county staff to develop an urban agriculture incentive zone ordinance within six months. The potential in Los Angeles is greater than in any other jurisdiction that’s looked at this so far: The county assessor has determined that there are 57,000 parcels that meet the size and vacancy eligibility criteria.

The real value of urban agriculture incentive zones comes when a landowner commits their land to urban agricultural use for at least five years. The recently created zones in Sacramento and Santa Clara County, and the movement to create zones in San Jose and Los Angeles, will greatly expand the opportunity for sites to be placed under contract. It’s been two years since the state passed its law allowing cities and counties to create incentive zones. and 2015 appears to be the year that this tool for promoting urban farming and gardening will become available to far more Californians.

Downloads:

Santa Clara County Ordinance and staff analysis >>

San Jose City Council proposal >>

Sacramento City and County ordinances >>

Los Angeles County staff analysis >>