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Source: The Santa Fe New MexicanAug.迷你倉新蒲崗 13--Operators of an urban farm in Santa Fe's Bellemah neighborhood are still negotiating with the city about how they can continue to legally grow vegetables. Meanwhile, city councilors are weighing a resolution that would order staff to look for ways urban agriculture can be integrated into land uses in the city.The City Council's Public Works Committee on Monday recommended approval of the resolution, but councilors said the idea is not intended to pave the way for Gaia Gardens, which is working to resolve city code violations identified earlier this summer."I don't have a problem supporting local agriculture, but what I don't want to do is reward bad behavior," said Councilor Chris Calvert.Gaia Gardens had already stopped selling produce from a farm stand along the Arroyo de los Chamisos when it received a letter in June that also ordered operators to stop hosting school groups and other volunteer helpers.One of the six alleged code violations had to do with makeshift housing that property owner Stuart Jay Tallmon put up on the land without a permit. The city also found that the nonprofit garden founded by farmers Poki Piottin and Dominique Lozo was operating without a business license.The pair have since applied for a home occupation license that, if approved, would allow them to grow and harvest vegetables on the property and sell them at another location. The license also would restrict the number of workers at the garden to two at a time. City Land Use Department Director Matthew O'Reilly said the application is under review and Piottin is acting as the landowner's agent to address building code violations in some structures on the 3.5-acre property.Councilor Patti Bushee, who sponsored the resolution before the City Council, stressed Wednesday that it isn't really about Gaia Gardens. She said it's more about the kind of issues it has raised."They are sort of a bad example of something well-intentioned that went too far," she said, noting that she's not proposing immediate code changes, but rather an examination of broader issues. Bushee's proposal also asks staff to consider how the city can allow farm stands to sell produce near community gardens in public spaces.The city and county Advisory Council on Food Policy is already working on recommendations to help the region move toward more local food production and consumption, said Katherine 迷你倉出租ortimer, the program manager for the city's sustainability plan. She said the extra direction from the council on urban agriculture would be timely."The Food Policy Council has been talking about wanting to promote urban agriculture long before the concerns with Gaia Gardens were present," she said.Piottin said he believes Santa Fe should focus on creating a section in the land use code to explicitly welcome food production in the city."Before we can talk about having farm stands, we have to talk about having farms," Piottin said Monday. "The big thing is that the city ordinance for home occupation businesses in residential neighborhoods is completely hindering the work of a farm by limiting the amount of people that can come and the amount of volunteers and the amount of structures and of all that."Other cities have taken steps that make it easier for urban farming, he said."It's doable. It just has to be on the books, otherwise our operation has to fit within the terms of the home occupation license, which is not made for farms," he said.Even if such changes get made in the long term, Gaia Gardens might already be over, he said. "We are a nonprofit with an educational mission, so if we can't have schools, we are closing up shop," he said.Area residents who say the garden has not been a good neighbor have raised the issue with the City Council on several occasions. The city also has received dozens of letters from people who live nearby and support the farm.O'Reilly said city staff believe there's a way to help the nonprofit understand the city code and operate within it, noting that the biggest violations have to do with substandard housing and plumbing as well as grading for the garden that took place without a permit. Another big concern, he said, is the amount of car traffic that the operations generated.Councilor Ron Trujillo said he hopes city staff will consider the history of the area. Gaia Gardens is in his district and he's heard an earful from constituents. But he noted that the main artery through Bellemah is Rancho Siringo."There's a reason it's called Rancho Siringo. There used to be ranches and agriculture there," he said.Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) Visit The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) at .santafenewmexican.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存倉