Item B: Food Security Scoping and Resource Plan

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Status: Currently, staff within the Planning and Development Department’s (PDD) Waste Prevention and Green Building Program is working on urban agriculture initiatives including: a.Increasing support to local schools through partnership with Oregon Green Schools and School Garden Project. b.Creating a best practices guide for development of neighborhood gardens. c.Developing and implementing a Waste Prevention Grant Program in cooperation with the City of Eugene Neighborhood Services Program, scheduled for roll-out in summer 2011. 3.Align recommendations from the Community Climate and Energy Action Plan (CEAP) with food security, urban agriculture and related City services and planning efforts. Status: In addition to the activities included in the accompanying recommendations, the Envision Eugene planning process is including some recommendations from the CEAP. 4.The completion of a local food security assessment gap analysis. Status: UO Honors student, Belinda Judelman, completed this project in June 2010, as part of her thesis requirements. Resource Plan Long-Term Recommendations The Resource Plan also includes recommendations for community and City-led actions which are not currently incorporated into work plans and for which funding has not been identified. These include: 1.Revise Eugene City Code to address urban agriculture and homesteading opportunities. Status: This recommendation has recently gained a great deal of momentum, specifically related to the number of adult female chickens allowed per residential lot. Currently, the Eugene Code (EC 9.5250) allows for two adult female chickens (or other fowl) on each small residential site. Low-density residential sites over 20,000 square feet have no limit if farm animal standards are satisfied. This issue has been brought to the council’s attention through recent public comment at the May 24, 2010, City Council meeting and letters from the public urging the council to increase the number, as well as through recommendations in the Community Climate and Energy Action Plan and the Resource Plan. After a careful evaluation of the situation, and as a result of this recent public and council attention and support, the Building and Permit Services Division Manager has suspended enforcement of the Eugene Code provision EC 9.5250, if the complaint is based solely on the number of adult female chickens. Although enforcement is suspended based on the number of hens a household possesses, staff still respond to complaints involving farm animals and will continue to evaluate the complaints on a case-by-case basis. This includes determining the underlying performance issue and working with the landowner to gain compliance with the land use code. Issues of odor, noise, sanitation, or proximity to adjacent dwellings will continue to be enforced if they have a negative impact on neighboring property owners. 2.Complete a disaster food access and distribution analysis and plan. Status: Lane County Emergency Coordinator, Linda Cook, presented at the April 28, 2010, Town Hall Meeting on Food Security. Items which she plans on incorporating into her work plan in regards to food security include: a.Add food shortages into the exercise programs for Emergency Management Services; b.Incorporate food resiliency into preparedness outreach programs; c.Add a food element as part of the neighborhood mapping program that is currently being completed; and Z:\CMO\2010 Council Agendas\M100929\S100929B.doc