Chapter 11: The Agricultural Core

Seattle, Washington is not part of the Agricultural Core. Seattle is very urbanized compared to the rural and agrarian live style in the Agricultural Core. The farming that goes on in the core is on a much larger scale than Seattle can ever be capable of. However although on a very small scale, Seattle has it's own agriculture going on; a program the city has started on September 23, 2010 called Urban Agriculture. It is an opportunity for local sources to develop healthy food by turning your lawn and garden space into productive agricultural plots. This movement is said can help Seattle create sustainable communities and promote economic development.

"Seattle Market Gardens is a partnership between in-city farmers and consumers resulting in weekly deliveries of high-quality, farm-fresh, organic produce during the growing season."

Taken from Seattle's Department of Planning and Development. Specifically, the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) is proposing the following code changes to support and encourage urban agriculture:

1. Add and/or clarify definitions for the following key terms: horticulture, aquaculture, animal husbandry, community gardens (including P-Patch community gardens), and urban farms.   These refined definitions have additional recommendations (below) for regulation by zone.   
2. Allow community gardens as permitted uses in all zones, with some limitations in industrial zones.
3. Allow urban farms in all zones as follows:
   
   Commercial:   Allow urban farms as a principal or accessory use.  Horticulture uses are currently limited to 10,000 sq. ft. in NC1 zones and 25,000 sq. ft. in NC2 zones; there are no size of use restrictions in NC3 or C zones.
   
   Industrial:      Allow urban farms as an accessory or principal use on land outside of designated MICs, and on tops and sides of buildings in all industrial zones.  Currently, horticulture uses are not allowed in industrial zones, and DPD proposes no change to this provision as based on the new definition of a horticulture use.
   
   Residential:    Allow urban farms as an accessory use without a permit up to 4,000 sq. ft. of planting area. Urban Farms with more than 4,000 sq. ft. of planting area would be subject to an administrative conditional use permit process.  Currently, agriculture uses are not allowed in residential zones.
    
4. Allow rooftop greenhouses a 15 foot exception to height limits as a rooftop feature, if the greenhouse is dedicated to food production in MF/C/I/SM/Downtown zones.  
5. Add farmers markets to the definition of multipurpose uses. 
6. Increase the number of chickens allowed on residential property from three to eight. DPD also proposes to add that roosters are not allowed in any zone. 

Sources:
http://www.seattle.gov/DPD/Planning/UrbanAgriculture/Overview/default.asp
http://www.cityfarmer.info/2008/09/18/seattle-market-gardens-urban-agriculture/