Oakland plowing a path for urban farming on vacant lots

Quinoa plants seen at WOW farm in front of the old West Oakland train depot in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, October 7, 2014. Quinoa plants seen at WOW farm in front of the old West Oakland train depot in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, October 7, 2014. Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Oakland plowing a path for urban farming on vacant lots 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

Oakland’s getting ready for a rhubarb revolution.

After four years of planning, the city is poised to eliminate bureaucratic roadblocks for urban gardeners, making it easier for residents to turn the city’s 3,000 vacant lots into fields of arugula and marigolds.

“We can’t feed everyone by doing this, but it’s a start,” said Lara Hermanson, owner of Farmscape, an urban gardening and landscaping company in Oakland. “This will really give a leg up for nonprofits, businesses and people who just want to grow their own food.”

Until now, gardeners could raise vegetables on vacant lots, but they needed a permit if they intended to sell those veggies, either at farmers’ markets, to restaurants or even to neighbors. Conditional use permits could cost up to $3,000 and take up to six weeks to obtain.

The proposed changes are meant to simplify and clarify the rules, and ultimately make it easier for gardeners to grow and sell veggies just about anywhere in the city without a permit, as long as they have the property owner’s permission. The only places off-limits for vegetable gardens would be public parks and heavy industrial zones, because of contaminated soil.

Council to vote

The city’s hope is that more community gardens and urban farms will reduce blight around vacant properties, provide jobs and bring fresh produce to areas with few grocery stores, officials said. The City Council’s Community and Economic Development Committee is slated to look at the updates this week, and the council will probably vote on the issue Tuesday.

“If someone wants to grow corn, tomatoes or whatever, that’s fabulous. We as a city should enable that, or at least not get in the way,” said City Councilman Dan Kalb, who’s worked on the issue.

Oakland, with its good weather, plethora of vacant lots and booming food industry, was on the forefront of the urban agriculture movement for many years. Outfits like City Slicker Farms and Phat Beets Produce made headlines for bringing veggies, and veggie-growing skills, to neighborhoods where both were in short supply.

Animal welfare

But the modern farming crusade started hitting snags when it met with Oakland zoning laws. The main holdup was animals. Oakland, like most cities, prohibits cruelty to animals, and slaughtering chickens or rabbits — as some urban farmers do — is considered by some as cruel.

The city eventually resolved this issue by ignoring it. The old laws regarding animal welfare will stay intact, meaning that urban farmers can have chickens and beehives and even goats, as long as they comply with health and safety ordinances. Slaughtering animals will still be illegal without a permit.

Assembly tax breaks

Urban farmers have no problem with that.

“The main thing is that the city is allowing people to grow and sell food by right. That’s a powerful statement,” said Esperanza Pallana of the Oakland Food Policy Council, which has worked on the new legislation.

Many hope the city will go even further by adopting AB551, a recently passed law that gives tax breaks to owners of vacant lots who turn them over to urban gardeners for at least five years. San Francisco and Los Angeles have adopted the law, but Oakland, with its thousands of vacant lots, seems an obvious fit, advocates said.

Kalb said he’d probably support it but wants to study the financial aspects, such as how much the city would lose in tax revenue, how many jobs would be created and how much property values would increase with the reduction in dumping and vandalism.

At Farmscape, blight has dropped considerably, Hermanson said.

Farmscape is one of three urban farming operations to temporarily take over a ¾-acre lot at the old 16th Street train station in West Oakland. Before the farms opened in June, the area was under a constant onslaught by vandals, said Frankie Whitman, a consultant for the property owner, Bridge Housing.

Staving off vandals

“It was a constant battle,” she said. “We had to do something to show people that property wasn’t abandoned. We thought, if we put urban agriculture in there, maybe that will help.”

The problem isn’t gone entirely, but the farms have helped, she said. They bring people to an area that doesn’t get much foot traffic, and they have beautified a large plot of dirt and weeds.

On a recent weekday afternoon, the rows of flowers were awash in butterflies and hummingbirds, and several workers were busy on projects. Compost bins, picnic tables, pallets of organic soil and raised beds of seedlings filled the lot.

The farms, which are both nonprofit and for-profit, employ local youth and supply fresh produce and flowers to local restaurants and farmers’ markets. Hermanson’s company also grows vegetables for landscape clients.

“It’s been a hoot. When we got here, there was nothing,” Hermanson said. “I was looking all over West Oakland for someplace to grow vegetables, but the laws made it tough. I feel extremely lucky to have this place.”

Carolyn Jones is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: carolynjones@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carolynajones

To get involved

Property owners who want to temporarily turn their land over to urban gardeners can contact the Oakland Food Policy Council for assistance, (510) 761-5428 or www.oaklandfood.org.