Planning Commission Weeds Community Garden Proposal

The Inver Grove Heights Planning Commission spent Tuesday night weeding a proposed zoning amendment intended to permit community gardens to blossom in the city.

Commissioners voted unanimously to pull requirements for fencing and paths, trim setbacks and open community gardening to any zoning district.

If approved by the City Council, the now-manicured proposal would allow groups of residents or organizations to “grow and harvest food crops and/or non-food ornamental crops such as flowers for personal or group use,” according to the amendment. No on-site retail sales would be permitted.

City Planner Allan Hunting said the city’s zoning ordinance does not address community gardens, which he said are becoming popular as part of the “urban agriculture” movement.

City planning staff began crafting a community garden proposal last year after Grace Church of the Nazarene members expressed interest in planting a community garden on the grounds of their church, at 80th Street and Blaine Avenue. Goods grown there would be donated to Neighbors, Inc.

In addition to a garden at Grace Church of the Nazarene, a community garden is in the planning stages at Inver Hills Community College.

Community gardens are popping up in a number of cities in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, as well as nationally. For instance, the Inver Grove Heights Parks and Recreation Department provides community garden plots at .

At their Tuesday night meeting, planning commissioners conducted a public hearing on a proposed community garden amendment to the city's zoning ordinance. City staff prepared a draft amendment after studying similar ordinances in Minneapolis and Burnsville, researching on the Internet and receiving input from the City Council.

Hunting said a number of provisions in the staff proposal were intended to guide residents and organizations on how to design a garden.

In the end, planning commissioners stripped or altered a number of requirements from the staff’s draft proposal, including:

• Fencing—The draft proposal called for a fence or landscaping to screen the gardens from arterial streets like Cahill or 80th Street. In taking out the requirement, commissioners said fencing was too expensive and that gardens, in many cases, would be more attractive than a fence.

• Setbacks—Commissioners trimmed the required setback from 20 feet to 5 feet. They said the 20-foot setback was too large and that a smaller setback would ease runoff and buffering concerns.

• Paths—The draft proposal said paths constructed of materials like wood chips, mulch, landscape rock or pea gravel “may be installed” to provide access to the garden and individual plots. Commissioners cut paths because of the potential expense.

• Zoning restrictions—The draft proposal called for community gardens to be planted in areas zoned for residential and agricultural development. Commissioners voted to include all zoned areas, including business and industrial.

The council is expected to discuss the proposed amendment at its April 23 meeting.