need to engage with the local organic pesticide free movement. we are here to support this ordinance and the amendments. we are in the middle of the food fight and just the past 30 years large pesticide corporations have muscled into controlling the support of our produce and the seeds for the plants and as a result have set the scale so that now a hamburger at mcdonald's is often more affordable than a head of cabbage at a grocery store. we know that local agriculture can increase food security in terms of nutrition and reduce greenhouse gas emission and reduce the use of pesticides. we have many people in san francisco who are dedicated to providing local, healthy, organic produce in community and market gardens which will improve this city and region's health and create greater access to safe nontoxic food. this will bring nothing but benefits to the city and communities, local market, consumers, local faerms and the

city's ecosystem. and on behalf of pesticide watch and the san francisco urban ag alliance, support urban agriculture and access to nontoxic foods. please support this ordinance. >> thank you. >> in brief, i am a neighbor of the property and adjoins the farm and i support it and all my neighbors support it, too. and it's wonderful and it o's the best thing to happen in the neighborhood in the five years i have been there. commissioner borden: thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. and the mission statement for the california act association is promote and protect agricultural and am impressed

with the turnout you had here today. and to us no matter how large or small is still practicing the art of kl cultural. and in the past we're in support. however, i want to let you know that there are after the regulations already in place for direct marketing that would alie here. i am here to answer any questions and we are ready and willing and open to discussions commissioner borden: great. some commissioners might have questions for you if you can say. >> yes, i have time. >> i would like to thank the economy and the land use

practice and hope you can create the precedent to reference by editing that and i have some comments about urban agriculture that has numerous benefits to the health urban agriculture is not extremely lucrative. and i ask that you create a code that allows the urban farms to be valuable. and to be economically sustainable and they require the low overhead and directly to the market. and especially value added products. and to gleam code language for the guidelines for on site sale of value added products and number six and is unnecessary

and i ask it not be included. commissioner borden: thank you. next speaker, please. and casey alan is the last card. secretary avery: madam president, we have been informed we do have overflow in room 408 just down the hall and for those who have already spoken, we ask that you go to that room so those who have not spoken have an opportunity to stay here and sit in this room and be heard. if you have spoken already, please go to room 408 because now that we have overflow, we cannot allow you to stand on the sides of the room. we were breaking the rules to accommodate everybody. again, if you have spoken, please go to the overflow room. there is a television there and you can hear everything that goes on. if you still want to speak, you can come back in. commissioner borden: you can stay sitting down if you like. i don't know if there are many

people out in the hall left. a few left out. >> commissioners, may i start? we have been promoting the urban

alliance and i am excite to be here in support of the legislation and the amendments of the urban alliance and i wanted to specifically address the value added concept that i feel is very important to change in the legislation. value added is especially significant looking at urban agriculture around the world in families related to women and children and health. the additional income is used to supplement a low food budget and it is for meez fooezable to urn income through the valuable added products is an important component. and it is, as the one gentleman pointed out becoming a global phenomenon and i think we have to treat it as a serious subject. thank you very much.

>> thank you. >> i am a professor of environmental studies and co-direct the garden project on campus and i wanted to speak on behalf of my students who are enrolled in an urban ag program at the university. and instead of me representing them, i would like to turn it over to one of my students. this is the future of urban ag. >> hi. i am katie trendas and i go to university of san francisco. i am a -- as well as a bunch of the kids, we were sitting over there. we're all part of the garden project and we run a small garden on campus and we have gotten a lot of support on

campus. it hasn't been going on for long -- >> it is the rain, sorry. >> i was wondering what that was. but basically i find it incredibly inspiring as a student that once i gadgraduate can potentially stay in the city i love and pursue a line of work that i am passionate about and take care of myself with the money that i could get or just be a part of something greater than this food corporation. i can just do something that is meaningful and helps the community. commissioner borden: thank you. >> we grow foods for people in the backyards and put in gray

water systems and rainwater catching and sustainable landscaping and we are supportive of this and are part of the urban ag alliance and i wanted to speak to some of your concerns. i haven't had a chance to speak with many of you to hear your concerns, but i have talked with a lot of people in the community and by allowing sales in a neighborhood we really are possibly infringing on someone's quality of life and a lot of traffic and impacts and we want to minimize those and acknowledge that. i have a couple of ideased about how to minimize those impacts and i heard a couple of questions about the 6:00 a.m. in the morning and this is not my business and this is me as a citizen and i, too, have a little bit of a concern about 6:00 a.m. and maybe 8:00 a.m. or something like that would be

good. and i have an yt about keeping the scale of this small and proposing a gross sales cap on how much you can sell at a particular site. and this is in regards to pooling the resources of many gardens at one location and suggesting $200,000 as a cap to sales as something you could consider to allow pooled resources. i have a letter here and in that i have some proposed language and i am not a planner or really well versed in this, and so please take it as a suggestion. thank you for your time and this is the first time i have been to a meeting whether where there is no opposition. amazing. >> thank you.

>> i have been volunteering at little city garden since last summer and for me it is touching to see people pass by and wave and give encouraging smiles and neighbors chath and being neighborly and in a time it's rare to act neighborly and when i say good, i simply mean good. such projects exemplify reverence, gratitude, and perhaps respect towards our food, towards our land, and towards each other. and i hope city legislation will reflect and encouragement to support such projects and strengthen local community and encourage the growth of the local economy. i hope in the near future more urban act projects would take root. thank you.

>> i am alley buttner and i am incredibly proud to be here today. i wear several different hats. one is as a producer for a local public radio station in san francisco and we value everything that is going on locally that is community based and community oriented and the other part is i work indoors almost all the time and at computers and i go almost every day that i can after work to little city garden and it provides an incredible haifsh for -- an incredible haven for me and so many people in san francisco who work indoor jobs to have access to volunteer and get their local food and just be in a place with plants and trees and people outside is enormously valuable. i am a medical herbalist and

value having land open in the city for growing herbs for teas and various things and the third hat is that brooke is my sister and her partner, and i have watched with amazing passion and thoroughness and dedication work towards this goal. it's just amazing to see where it is now. >> good afternoon, commissioners. eam here to speak in support of the proposal and i think

everyone has covered the nitty-gritty issues and those who focuses on helping the who focuses on helping the customer and their children learn to garden and this was give them the reason to invest time and energy and it is not a simple thing to do, not rocket sign, but it does take some commitment and one of the obstacobthat sta kls is why to -- and one of the obstacles is why put in all this time for their own plot and that might encourage them and i wanted to put my word in. thank you very much. >> thank you for letting more of us speak. i live in glen park and i am a small business owner and a photographer for many years and

the past 10 years i have photographed food and farming issues. and i am here to show -- and i am also a member of the san francisco urban ag and alliance and here to show my support for this obviously and support the amendments proposed by the alliance. i have had the opportunity to visit urban ag efforts in los angeles, atlanta, chicago, and other cities. all of these efforts and farms that i have seen boost their economies and beautify the vacant lots and enhance the community gathering places to educate people about food production. and i have seen firsthand how the food producing green spaces are a source for social, visual, and economic goodness.

all of them are nonprofit organizations which are great. they rely on donation and volunteer power and grant donation, not always the most sustainable stream. we care about sustainability in climate change and dwindling resources. former mayor newsome's healthy food directive commits to local food production as a path to a more sustainable future. if they want to encourage successful, sustainable urban ag, i ask that you amend the proposal to create city policy that makes it economically sustainable to grow food locally. thank you. we have two mr. speakers -- we

have two mr. speakers. >> i am a neighbor and i have a letter in from another neighbor. they are wonderful neighbors and it's been an improvement to the neighborhood and my grandparents grew up in the city and talked about the cows and the neighborhood and the produce cart coming by and it's when i want to be part of the horses in glen canyon and that is long gone. anyway, i want my kids to have it, too. >> hello. i am here representing myself and the students and i came to support this proposal because i work and volunteer and am involved with person with a few community gardens here in the city. and because i am a student and my schedule is very tight around my studies, it was very hard for me to find employment and at a

certain point i had to look for four or five months to find a job. and if it was easier for me to sell for my house and to grow and the produce that i know how to make and make it much easier for me to get to the end of the month. and i hope this will pass so students like me can make an easier living. commissioner borden: thank you. is there any additional public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioner borden. commissioner borden: i am so enthusiastic about the legislation and it is a wonderful thing. i am the granddaughter of farmers and spent time in the summer picking strawberries on a much larger farm and my parents had in our suburban neighborhood a garden in the backyard and used to try to keep the rabbits out as kids and it was an exciting experience. one of my favorite things in the

city is to walk through the garden at fort mason close to where i live and the small example of the urban gardening and a friend who had a plot by candlestick point and i know what a difference the urban farms make an the important aspect of the city and i saw something on link tv if you grew in new york city on the top of the high-rise buildings, you could provide enough food production for the city of new york and mr. sanchez, a few questions about the legislation and i wanted to ask you how this would apply to roof tops if people wanted to garden on rooftops. >> and roof top gardening is included in the neighborhood agriculture use in the present iteration of the ordinance. commissioner borden: that is great. and can you talk about a few things. the fencing is not mandatory in the legislation, is that correct? >> that is correct. there is no requirement to youth fencing and we would like users

to comply with the ornamental fencing regulations. commissioner borden: what about green screen and what would be considered -- ornamental can sound expensivexpensive. >> tiff definition and includes -- i have the definition and chain link or woven wire fences in areas visible from the public right-of-way with rails on the top and bottom and topped with caps. >> if i may, there is no requirement that it be opaque. and i think there is the impression if it's a wooden fence it has to be opaque, but it can be quite open and see through it. >> that is my understanding. >> and can you define what value added goods are? and there is a definition or put that in there? it sounds like there is maybe very good reasons to include value added goods but i don't know exactly what those are. >> what the department means by value added good is if you had

blew blueberry and the value ud added would be the creation of jams or a pie, for instance. something more than the raw produce or food taken out. >> using that example, whoi would we want -- i understand the use of the primary concern and something like blueberries and jam doesn't seem that significant of a difference. >> i think part of the concern is that as part of the -- well, this is especially in our district and part of the accessory use controls is that you cannot sell stock and trade from your home. another issue is that it's very hard for us to control if the pies you bake were actually from the blueberry bushes in your backyard. at what point -- i don't know if the planning department is equipped to say this is san francisco blueberries and these are from whatnot. and i believe we have an issue

with how we grapple with the enforcement on that. commissioner borden: and if we added value added and the blueberry and would kitchen requirements be kicked in? >> i believe that would have to be regulated under the department of public health. and it is my understanding that they go around. >> and the guy from urban agriculture, can you answer that question about value added goods like the blueberry -- you can come to the podium and whether that would require a kitchen facility. >> thank you. so many both of the cases of value added our proposal is for the planning commission to allow it on site and anyone who wanted to do it would have to follow any applicable health code laws and there are some. and i think quite a number may find it is not worth trying because once you do a processed good you have to follow quite a few regulations. for those that wanted to and wanted to make the jam and the pickles, and the planning commission can say, if you want to try it, it's okay on this

site. >> but if you saw -- and you could still -- i guess i am confused because there is times when you go to fairs and there is jam made locally and don't have a kitchen. >> with quite a few there and we don't want to change the rules. we wanted the sales allowed there and with the cucumbers in one place, couldn't you sell your pickles right next to it? commissioner borden: and value added goods would be a product in the direct line of linage of a product on the property and wouldn't i knitted a sweater and add that as something to sell.

>> correct. and we had language in the letters that we sent to you under the letterhead that farmers' markets probably use this as well and find closer language and a majority of the ingredients came from that site. and there are questions of enforcement and i am not exactly sure how farmers' market does it but they have figured out ways to do it and if you made a salsa that most of the ingredients came from the garden, maybe you didn't make the salsa yourself. >> and did you look at -- >> i would like the commissioners to check. >> and commissioner, i am working under the umbrella of the department of public health. and i spoke to the director of environmental health this morning and we discussed this very issue. value added product and the processed food. and which we allow both at certified farmers' markets and

other events. and in those cases value added products are processed foods and must be prepared in a commercial or approved kitchen. and permitted by the city of san francisco or department of health at the state level. most kitchens have to be approved. and also they are subject to a fee for specific events or mobile vendors. and whether you prepare the value added product from the production site and from another site, and those whoub subject to the regulations. >> thank you for carefullying. >> did you look at the definition of value added goods? >> i did not.

>> and maybe at some point after i ask you a few questions and you can look at those and i would be in favor of allowing with additional regulations to have that in the legislation and requirements about how the goods are determined. i would like you to look at that legislation and language to see if that would make sense. can you tell me what the fee is? i want to understand what the fee is per square foot or -- >> minimal change in use permit is the planning department fees are approximately $300. those are the fees coming from us. i am not clear how much department of building and inspection would tack on for their review and overhead. >> if they didn't have fencing -- >> we would like to have an inventory of where the urban agricultural uses are and if you

have a vacant lot and registered vacant in the database, when someone comes to use that as the urban agricultural use, we would like to fill out a change of use form and we know this lot and block x is urban industrial and provides entitlements and the securities that go alongside. commissioner borden: that is what the department of health deals with? >> we collected data and know how the land is being used throughout the city. commissioner borden: my only thing is i don't think $$300 is unreasonable, but we have to cover our costs and in deficit times and isn't exempt it and at their own expense and doesn't seem there shouldn't be

additional fees and often called the $1 permit and simply construction cost is $1 to actually change the use to whatever you are doing. >> and i would think that because they were temporary, how is that affected? it is not a full change of use and it is temp flair some cases. >> i think the planning code treats temporary differently and there is a different permit if you want it to be a temporary use and we are assuming it will be permanent use for x-number of years and there is, i think, the temporary use fees might be higher and around $400 for a temporary use permit. i can definitely get back to you. commissioner borden: i think particularly for temporary uses it would be cheaper and i can understand from the long-term they could afford to pay it

back. i don't want to rewrite the code for this use, but how to look at that and is lest costly than the permanent use and that obviously i know you have to do a counting and tracking of what are temporary and permanent and that is the preference. and as a planning commissioner, i can't advocate for no fees unfortunately because everybody has to run the department, but if we look at how to fix those two things in particular. i will turn it over to other commissioners and i will make -- should i make a motion? i would like to move to approve with the modification of exploring how to add value added goods to the legislation, clarifying that the fencing doesn't need to be opaque, that fencing is ot