You may have heard that Mayor Mike McGinn has declared 2010 “The Year of Urban Agriculture,” the goal of which is “making it easier to garden and grow food, to ensure that good food is available in all neighborhoods, and to find innovative ways to encourage local and regional food production.”
Assuming the Department of Planning and Development’s 45-page food policy ordinance passes, what changes might we see in Wallingford?
Right now residents are limited to having three backyard chickens; that number could go up to eight, though the DPD’s Senior Land Use Planner Andrea Petzel told us “there’s some wiggle room” to decrease that number. The ordinance also formally bans roosters.
Backyard and community farmers will also be allowed to sell produce grown on-site. Petzel thought this was a particularly noteworthy change to code and represents “a shift in the way we’re growing and distributing food.” We could all have mini-CSAs on our own streets.
The ordinance is going through environmental review now and will go to the City Council in June.
