agricultural. we are looking ing ting to str that and the city attorney said we could do this through administrative fees and we don't need to do rule making but make an administrative determination. the sfpuc is limited in the amount of water we can draw from the regional water supply system and we must reduce the watter that redraw from the regional system by 10 million gallonses per day by 2018. and any additional water use in san francisco will have to be offset by the use of alternative local water sources such recyclable water, rainwater harvest, gray water, or groundwater as well as additional other water conservation measures. and these amendmentscismly cross refrps -- these amendments simply cross reference existing law and we urge you to make them part of your report to the board of supervisors.

commissioner borden: thank you. >> i would like to add one more bit to the presentation. i did receive a number of letters post the packet submission and i would like to present them to you here. commissioner borden: someone from the san francisco urban agricultural alliance is going to address the commission as well i believe. this is the end of the presentations. >> thank you, commissioners. my name is eli zigas and a co-coordinator and we are a volunteer organization with over 30 member groups and many of whom are in the room or out in the hall. and our supporters who are also here and many of them are

wearing green or a sticker like that one i have on. ed our main message coming today is you have seen letters that we and our supporters have sent and to reiterate is we are supportive of the proposal and it is well tailored to san francisco because of the hard work of the planning department and the mayor's off and supervisor chiu's office going through many it racingses of the draft. we have -- many iterations of the draft. we have proposed three amendments and the fist two are aimed at reducing the barriers to starting a garden. the first is a request to remove or waive permit fees and the second is in the language of fencing to remove the fencing requirement and the third is to expand what gardens can go and they would be allowed to sell value added products and pool from a number of gardens within the city. and coming off the business

commission hearing, there are two things immaterialed to impart. one is that we are talking about gardens and we say urban farmers but for the most part it is a scale that is gardens and there aren't many spots in san francisco greater than one acre, so we are talking about gardeners and in a scale that is not usually what we think of when we think of farming. the second is there are restrictions built in and that would limit the prt in neighborhoods and the planning department's proposal splits it between less than one acre and greater than one acre and is important to keep in mind there is only so much produce you can grow on one acre during the year. i would be the first to say you can grow a lot, but not a flood of produce and just so much that can be produced. the last thing that i would like

to do is say that you will likely hear a lot of comments on the proposal today. some will be about this kind of regulation, that kind of regulation and some about the amendments we propose. and more than anything i hope we can move this forward to the board of commissioners and there is interesting questions and i hope we can resolve them through the hearing today. and the question there of alternative language on fencing and value added goods and i am happy to talk about those, i think some of the sponsor cans talk about those as well. commissioner borden: as we begin the discussion after public comment, we may ask one of you to come back up here for more insight on this discussion. it is possible we will ask for more of your input or someone from the mayor's office or some of the other agencies. >> we look forward it to.

and again, i hope we can move this to the board. thank you. commissioner borden: thank you. i just wanted to mention that it's -- i am looking at a huge pile of cards and there is no one among you who is opposed to it. i don't know if there is anyone in the audience who is opposed to this that was going to speak in opposition. i don't mean to put you on the spot or intimidate you in the crowd, but i thought that -- i don't see any. so i think what i will do is limit public comment to two minutes since there is so much overwhelming support. and also what we are in the habit of doing is asking those who are in support of this to stand up and you still have the option to speak and if you want to, but at least you give us a sense of who is supporting it out there. someone said ask them to raise their pitch fork. i guess i will ask you to stand up and show sport those of you who are in favor of this. you are not forfeiting your right to speak, but we wanted a

sense of -- okay. thank you. and you can clap for this if you want at this time. usually we're pra breaking all rules, but i have never seen overwhelming support in such a long time and it is pleasant to see. i'm going to call names and if you want to come up, feel free, and we're going to limit comment to two minutes. >> thank you, commissioners for wellmenting the enthusiasm today. i run a business in my mission district and we sent you a letter in support of the proposal and the production

traveling from farm to plate as people like to say. and any of us working to educate the community feel good about how food begins and for our goals the emergence of the sustainable enterprises and really clearly support and pushing for the greening agenda and the diversification of the green business community and we are really excited about the prospects of for-profit bidses in the agricultural sector merging in san francisco and i do want to encourage consideration a couple of the amendments particularly the fencing and sort of the ag activities that could happen on site that really would stand to support the unique economics of

agriculture in much the same way as agriculture is supported in other policy and other context. and having had some experience working in federal and environmental policy, i recognize the pitfalls of creating too many cut arounds for particular industry and i think that the amendments have been presented around fencing and value added products and pooling are worth consideration. thanks very much for your time. commissioner borden: thank you. i'll just keep calling cards. >> thank you, commissioners. i am with bay localize that

promotes resilient, sustainable communities and we are extremely proud and to join with san francisco urban ag alliance in support of the forward-looking ordinance and we think is going to allow for more beautiful gardens and green landscapes and urban farming throughout the city. we want to commend you for considering this today. just want to make a few comments about the context in which we're living with our food system. today's petroleum-based long distance transport food system is based on a lie t false assumption that we can burn 10 calories of fossil fuels for every calorie we eat. it is based bonn the false assumption that we can continue to rely on fossil fuel-powered trucks to ship our mealses an average of 1,500 miles a day from farm to plate and perhaps worst of all it's based on the false asuchgs that a system can provide the communities with anything resembling healthy

food. this ordinance, while no silver bullet, takes a vitally important step towards making our food system more honest and more resilient and economically viable for entrepreneurs and communities throughout san francisco. the movements for urban agriculture and food justice like you can see with the presence of everyone here is spreading like wildfire. so we urge you to support this ordinance and to help ensure that san francisco remains ahead of the curve. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> i have been a resident of san francisco since 1980 and attorney by trade and practicing law in san francisco for 23 years but here more in my capacity as a beekeeper. i have been a beekeeper since 2006 and a past president of the san francisco beekeepers association and last year i founded a new nonprofit called

san francisco bee cause and we are a member of the san francisco urban agricultural alliance. i am in support, we are in support of the ordinance with some exceptions. specifically request changes to the words used in the ordinance. there is a basic rules that courts apply when interpreting statutes and when of them is that no word is superfluous. each word has an intended meaning and also if the word is not specifically defined by the statue it, it is given a common sense meaning. when i looked at the ordinance from the ice of a beekeeper, i saw certain words that didn't seem to jive with my understanding of the commission's intent to have this ordinance to governor plant. based foods as opposed to anything derived from or is an

animal as is governed by the article one of the san francisco health code. specifically there are words such as food, fresh food, farms, and products. those words are not defined. and when you compare them to horticultural crops which i propose is the consistent term that should be used in the ordinance, it does raise the question what do you mean by food? i took a look at the dictionary today and food is any material, plant or animal origin, containing nutrients taken in by living organism to support life. farm is also including the concept of animals and -- [bell ringing] awe >> and i have some amendments to offer. tom, i called your name and then andreas.

>> thank you, president olague, members of the commission. executive director of livable city and we are here to speak in support of this urban agriculture ordinance and excited that it is coming forward. and feeling a little too restrictive and one is the fencing requirement. the ornamental fencing or the wooden fencing is treating this like it's a vehicle use area or something that you would want to screen from view, but what we're talking about looking at is plant. and they would be nice. if you were to plant these same plants in the front yard, you wouldn't need to screen them. we feel like the fencing requirement could be a real impediment to people being able to put this in and a lot of the uses will be temporary. and it feels more restrictive than you want on the construction site. the idea that the enclosure should be optional and the ornamental fencing which is

expensive to put in isn't necessary and obviously the fencing would need to meet building code and if you don't want someone to steal your tomatoes, you'll have to have good fencing. and the other is the question of the produce being sold and fairly restrictive language about the stuff that is grown on that site. and considering that this is really we're talking about selling food and a lot of neighborhoods have the food deserts. they don't have places to buy fresh foond and we think being less restrict sieve better than being more restrictive. could you pool produce from several sites? that should be aloud or value add and we use the produce to make jam and put some restrictions on it and a use size 200 square feet so it doesn't become a grocery store or a supermarket and put in restriction on alcohol so it doesn't become a liquor store, but the idea that it could sell produce grown there and there is

no harm and a great deal of being flexible about the food sales. and we need to have more outlets for healthy food so creating more rather than fewer seems better. and it is a good proposal and something long overdue. and to loosen it up to make it more viable. thank you. commissioner borden: thank you. >> i'm bud smith with transition san francisco. and of course, i am here to speak in favor of the proposed ordinance with the amendments suggested by the urban agricultural alliance. i wanted to echo what some of the other people said about the small scale of what will be done

when considering fees and alliance from people who are not impactful or take that much resource from the city and county. and i am with the transition san francisco group, a member of the committee, and transition san francisco is part of the transition towns movement around worldwide movement around localization and that involves so many aspects and two of the main things we get involved in are the earn couragement of -- the encouragement of growing food locally and interfacing with local government. the transition to towns movement started in the u.k. and there are a couple of local councils which are actually adopting elements of transitions aagain sa as their own for -- agenda as their own for governing the talents and cities. and looking forward to engaging with you on this and other efforts and to show part of what we hope will happen more and more intensely with the ordinance in place, we're

currently working ining on thet for 2011 and one of the two main focuss is an effort called kitchen gardens that came from the perma culture guild and it is basically an institutionalized form that is the perma list and you invite a bunch of happy people and they do around the yard if you are fortunate to have one and even the inside space and help you understand what plant wills grow there and what food and herbs and other benefits you might hope to get from different plants and combinations and regime of plants. there is a lot of technology and practice. i am going back thousands of years. [bell ringing] >> thank you. >> thank you for your attention. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am susie paladino, the program director for garden environment and a member of the san francisco urban agriculture alliance.

we support the urban agricultural zoning proposal as well as the recommended amendments outlined by the san francisco urban agricultural alliance. i mept for the environment that supports the proposed zoning proposal. if the proposed zoning proposal is approved today, the city will be providing the critical court necessary for many trained individuals to find and create jobs in san francisco that bring locally grown food even closer to our table. starting for the environment is san francisco's first demonstration garden founded nearly over 20 years ago. we provide direct hands-on education to 3,000 san francisco residents, youth, and adults each year at our half acre organic teaching garden. annually through our gardening and composting educator training program, we accept and train 30 san francisco residents in organic gardening and urban composting products and examining sustainable urban agricultural and food security in san francisco. these students receive

comprehensive training and graduate from the program with an earnest desire for a place for their skills and enthusiasm to flour niche a commercial and noncommercial setting. and the city is addressing the needs of the changing food system and support iing job opportunities. and i applaud the planning to expand the potential for urban gardening and if passed today, the proposal and the recommended change wills provide unprecedented support for urban gardening, support as gardeners and farmers need to participate in the green jobs economy. thank you for your time. >> madam president and commissioners, i am david hooper and i come to speak on behalf of

the new mission terrace improvement association. and in support of the effort for urban agriculture. a year ago the property owner of the cotter street loss that is now the little city garden and the principles or little city garden came to the neighborhood association and asked if we would work with them towards the goal and unanimous answer was that we would accept them. and it was well worth our benefit for having done so. a lot that was undeveloped on what historically had been vegetable gardens in the past was problematic. at best it was a dog run and frequently had weeds that had to be cut by property owners and fenced off from the sidewalk by a wooden fence that was probl problematic at times when you could walk around it, but didn't have line of site. and since the little city garden has come and a chain link sense at street side at cotter, people

have not only are they engaged visually by the garden, but the adjacent 38 neighbors have security because of the activity on the lot. there are many benefits and establishing an urban garden but for the immediate community it was to be engaged by people who were serious and had a vision. they accepted the challenge and we have benefitted from it. i would like to say that the fencing requirement, in fact, to build another wooden fence to cut off line of sight would lessen security for the adjacent neighbors. also, the idea of value added, there isn't, as has been said before, there isn't a lot of money you are going to make out of a lot this size but to allow them to realize what value they can for the effort they are making would be a good idea.

>> i am brooke buttner and operating 3/4 acre farm in the mission terrace neighborhood. little city guard season a small business and an experiment in the economic viability and we grow salad greens, cooking greens and culinary herbs that we can't wait to sell to san francisco residents and restaurants. we started a year ago because we recognized something that san francisco lacked. at the time there were no commercial urban farms operating in the city. we felt strongly that if we were going to see an increase in efficient food production in san francisco, we also needed to see a viable business model for an urban farm, so we set out to design a model that could work for us. and we imagined there would be unforeseen obstacles to running a business in the city but also meaningful work. and we were right on both accounts. and the first was that the

current zoning code prevents us from selling the produce we grow because we are in a residential neighborhood. i am happy to be here today to encourage you to pass the code which will allow us to sell the produce. and to give you a sense of scale, we are aiming to produce between 50 to 75 pounds of produce per week. as far as the proposed amendments to the legislation, i urge you to include them. and it may seem like a small detail, the requirement to install decorative fencing could be an undue financial burden for a small farm business. little city garden, like many other urban farms, operates on a va lant lot under a land use agreement that is temporary in nature. to impose the expensive fencing regulations puts an unfair

burden. >> and i look forward to the future when i hope we will be working together again with the fertile land. >> thank you. commissioner borden: maria butler, allison butler, and four cards left and hopefully we can start our discussion. >> i am actually cuts in line. thank you very much, commissioners. i am a neighbor and i am directly next to the lot and been there for 42 years. and i wanted to say that i am amazed by the support, wow. but i am very, very happy with it. when they first came, i was skeptical, but it gives a warm feeling to the neighborhood and everybody who stops by looks and has a nice comment to make. i have not heard not one derogatory statement from anybody. thank you and we do approve.

>> thank you. i broke my own rule, but the fewer the interruptions between the speakers and the quicker we get through the hearing and hopefully move it to the board. go ahead. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am a legal fellow for the bright line fence project and we urge you on behalf of bright line to support the zoning proposal with the amendments proposed by san francisco urban agricultural alliance and promoting sustainability in disadvantaged neighborhoods and we are committed to protecting and empowers communities particularly in the southeast sector of the city. any time one lowers the cost of urban farming or community gardening, you can increase the accessibility and make it easier to start them. and these gardens also allow community members to pursue healthier lifestyles and more importantly, economic opportunities by allowing the sale of value added products and pooled produce. we urge you to amend and pass the current proposal in order to realize the full potential and thank you for your support.

commissioner borden: thank you. >> and we have some letters that we managed to get late to you. commissioner borden: thank you. and we believe we received the email as well from joshua. rachel chung, isabel wade, dart kaufmann, melinda stone. those are the remainder of the cards. >> as one of the 250 workers on the behalf of the democratically elected rain bow ecology support, we would like to support our voice for item seven. and rain bow grocery is a member of san francisco urban agricultural alliance and our store has been providing local organic produce to san francisco residents for 30 years and we welcome this opportunity to empower the community members to

begin and continue producing fresh food for themselves and our community. thank you. commissioner borden: thank you. >> i am co-owner of little city gardens. and as a contributor to the value driven economy and excited by the potential of farms in my city and i urge you to pass this amendment with the amendments set forth. and since much of the farmable rand is located in there and our farm, a commercial operation, and has fit into the residential neighborhood. my partner and i work on site 40 hours a week using mostly hand tools and occasionally a weed whacker or rote tiller for larger tasks.

we hold -- this is the before and after photo for folks. and we hold two volunteer days hosting 1 to 10 and received zero complaints about noise and we have been told we are very good neighborhoods. and it illustrates that it is a relatively quiet activity and creating less noise than a landscaper and less traffic than an occasional household dinner party. i have experienced the fulfilling relationships that form around a farm in a residential neighborhood. we are visited by neighbors daily and some who pass by to say hello and check on the progress of the crops and others who offer platters of hot tea and others watch us work and share story of their farmer grandparent and others who help us dig and many who stop in to ask when they will finally be able to buy some of our cabbage. i feel that our farm has become an integral part of the residential neighborhood by presenting a connection to

something we share, the need for food. i suspect if we sell the produce, the garden will continue to be unobstrewsive part of the neighborhood and we are in the city together surrounded by each other and we need to embrace activities that can be healthy for us. >> thank you. >> hi. thank you for having all of us. i am dana pearls. and also a member of pesticide watch which is a nonprofit organization that helps citizen groups across california develop sustainable solutions for dealing with pests instead of toxic pesticides. our mission is to work side by side with californians to prevent pesticide exposure, promote local farming and build healthier communities. as people are becoming more aware of both the dangers of pesticide use and the n