A bill for an ordinance amending the Denver Zoning Code to allow fresh produce and cottage food sales as a home occupation.  (LAND USE, TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE ) Approves a text amendment to the Denver Zoning Code to allow fresh produce and cottage food sales as a home occupation.  A PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE HELD AT LEAST FOUR WEEKS AFTER PUBLICATION. The Committee approved filing this bill at its meeting on 5-13-14.
Yes, Madam President, I put Council Bill 398 on the floor and be placed upon final consideration and do pass. Thank you. It has been moved. The second day of the public hearing for Council Bill 398 is open. Councilwoman Kennish, before I ask for the staff report. Would you like to put your amendment on the floor so that speakers may address the proposed amendment? Thank you. Madam President, I move that Council Bill 398, the amended in the following particulars on page two, line one, strike section five and insert a new Section five to read as follows. Section five The above changes to the Denver Zoning Code are reflected more fully in a document filed with the Denver City Clerk on June 13 , 2014 as City Council Clerk Filing Number 14 Dash 502. Translation When changes are made to our Denver zoning code, the ordinance language that council adopts is fairly barebones. We simply refer to a separate document that is filed with the clerk's office. For my colleagues, this is really similar to how we adopt contracts. The contract itself isn't in the ordinance. It just references a filing with the clerk's office. And so this amendment, the way that we make a change, is we change that document filed with the clerk's office. So what I am proposing is the new document that's filed with the clerk's office that's filing 502 will basically change the start time for residential sales in the ordinance that we're about to hear about from 7 a.m. and replace it with 8 a.m.. So the only thing that is being changed is the proposed time that sales would allow to begin, and that will be all reflected if you are in your council documents in the city's legislative system. You can see that change in the clerk filing. It's not going to be visible in the bill itself because the bill will only refer to the clerk filing number. So that's just to kind of orient you in where and how this is working. But the the the the outcome of the vote would be to change the hours to begin at 8 a.m. instead of seven. Thank you, Madam President. Okay. Thank you, Councilman CORNISH. Councilmembers will vote on that amendment at the conclusion of the speakers, in case any speaker wants to comment on that. So you can hold your comments until then. Okay. I have a. Point of order, madam. Madam President, may I. May I ask if one of my colleagues might want to second the amendment? It is seconded. I'm sorry. That is seconded on the screen. I guess we're ready for the staff report. Great. Good evening, Madam President. And City Council. My name is Sarah Showalter. I'm a senior planner with the city's Department of Community Planning and Development. And I will give a quick staff presentation on the proposed ordinance tonight. As I think you all know, this is sponsored by a councilwoman, Robin Kmiec, and we also have co-sponsors, Susan Shepherd and Councilman Albus Brooks. We've also had great community support for this ordinance from the Mayor's Sustainable Food Policy Council, as well as the liberal Denver Regional Collaborative. From the purpose of the amendment before you tonight is essentially to allow Denver residents to sell fresh produce and a very limited range of cottage foods from their home. This would help align Denver's regulations with the State of Colorado Cottage Food Act, which passed in 2012. There's some great city goals and policies already in place that this would help implement, including the Mayor's 2020 sustainability goals would also help expand access to healthy, locally grown and affordable foods in Denver, as well as help build community by promoting neighbor to neighbor interactions. I'm a very quick summary here of the process that we've been through with this proposed amendment to the code beginning in very early 2014. Lots of meetings with registered neighborhood organizations are no's throughout the city, over 20 of them. We've also done informational updates to our planning board and City Council's Luti committee. Then we had a required public hearing before a planning board on May 7th, as well as a meeting in front of the committee on May 13th. We had a first reading by City Council on May 19th, and then of course, we're here tonight for a public hearing. And as was mentioned earlier, we will have a continuation of this public hearing on July four. With full notice for that for the rhinos. We have heard from 13 RINO's that have voted and taken a position on this proposed ordinance. Of the 13 that we heard from, ten voted to support it and three were opposed. Of the ten who voted to support two had recommendations and there actually the same recommendations for both of the organizations. One is to have a review of this home occupation one year after it's gone into effect. And that's something that the council sponsor, Councilwoman Kennedy, has already committed to do and bring back to council one year after it's been in effect. Another recommendation was to extend the starting time in the morning, so it's not quite as early. The recommendation was 10 a.m. There was a floor amendment that you just heard tonight to change the starting time from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. in response to that community input. So before I walk through the proposed changes, and that's part of this ordinance, just a very quick summary of what you can do in the code today. There's already a wide range of home occupations allowed in our residential zone districts throughout the city. That includes things like hair salons, offices. If you have a lawyer, an accounting office thing out of their home, child care, these are clearly incidental to the primary use of the residence and are specifically designed to have limitations on them to ensure that they don't detract from the quality of our neighborhoods. There are also a lot of provisions in our code already for being able to grow produce throughout the city, including at your home, and also some options already for being able to sell food that you might grow as a resident. For example, you could sell at a farmer's market, but currently today in the code, no provision to sell from your home. So the proposed change is kind of categorized into three different areas. The first one is to add a new home occupation that's called fresh produce and cottage foods sales. This would be subject to the same limitations as all of the other home occupations, and that does include obtaining a zoning permit for $20 in order to operate this there. This proposed home occupation would be allowed in all of the zoned districts and residential zoned districts in the city, except for two zone districts, the SFX and IRIS districts. These are districts that have historically been designed in their intent. Expressly in the code is to limit the number of home occupations in them, every other residential district. And the code today allows for 15 home occupations and these two districts only allow for four. So definitely intent there to keep them restricted in terms of home occupations. This map shows where those districts are. It's a very limited geographic area of the city, just some small areas in the southwest corner of Denver. The second change is to add some definitions of the code. So one would be to clearly define what this home occupation is. The second is to define cottage foods, and the definition essentially links right back to the Colorado Cottage Food Act, the state legislation. We've also included in the definition that our own, the City Department of Environmental Health, has the ability to take foods off the list if they feel that one of them were to become hazardous, or they had a concern about that. And we've also, specifically in the definition, made it clear that this doesn't include any marijuana or marijuana infused food products. And then the final category of change is to add some limitations that are specific to this home occupation. So one that we talked about earlier is the hours of sales which are being proposed tonight with the amendment to be 8 a.m. until dusk. Another is because sales could occur outdoors. There would be limitations on that. If you're selling outdoors, you have to use temporary, movable furniture, no permanent structure, and any visible evidence would have to be removed outside of the hours of operation. So essentially every evening, if you were setting up every day, you'd have to bring the furniture, an umbrella that you were using inside. And then, of course, all of the other home occupation limitations would apply to this, which include you can't have any employees who live off site and one very small window or a wall sign for street frontage. All of our proposed tax amendments to the Denver zoning code are reviewed against three basic criteria. One is consistency with the city's adopted plans and policies. This proposal. Mosul fulfills two different policies that we find in our comprehensive plan. 2001, under the category of land use, is about having flexible and accommodating land use regulations to allow future land use needs, such as home based businesses. And the second is allowing for a diverse range of uses in our neighborhoods, including home based businesses. And as I mentioned earlier, it also helps to fulfill the mayor's 2020 sustainability goal. And there's one specifically related to increasing the amount of food produced in Colorado, in Denver. And in terms of process, I did want to document that planning board voted unanimously to recommend approval of this ordinance to city council at their May 7th public hearing. They also asked Council to consider the possibility of allowing this home occupation and all zone districts, even the assets you affix in high zone districts. Council's Luti committee discussed that recommendation at their May 13th meeting, but decided not to make any recommended changes to this tax amendment. And we do find a staff that all of the criteria have been met and recommend approval. Thank you very much. Councilwoman Kanis, you had wanted to make a brief explanation at the beginning of this presentation. Go ahead. Thank you. Madam President, first of all, I wanted to identify we also have before us the Denver Environmental Health Department. Should there be any questions during the question and answer period regarding health or safety issues? Councilwoman Shepherd and myself will also be available during the question and answer period. Should there be any questions for us as sponsors that can't be handled by the staff? And lastly, for the public, I wanted to clarify why it is the Council won't be voting tonight. We have had numerous notices that Sarah described in the staff report, and so thousands of emails have gone out to the registered neighborhood organizations when the draft proposal was created, when the hearing occurred at planning board, when we set this public hearing as a council, we had notice of that in numerous newsletters of members of this council on neighborhood papers. But there is one email list to register neighborhood organizations where the email did not go out at the 21 days prior. That is the custom of the Council. The law varies on whether it needs to be ten or 15 days, but it's our view as sponsors that it's critical that we provide that advanced notice with that particular list as required in our in our policies. So that is why we won't be taking a vote today to ensure that folks who may not have gotten notice because they subscribe only to that list get a chance to testify. So we wanted to clarify that for my colleagues and for the public as to why we are going to be doing this in two parts. Just to be safe, to make sure anyone who wanted to be here has a chance to hear about it. Thank you, Madam President. Okay, we have 13 speakers, and I'm going to call you up five at a time so that you come and sit in the front pews and be on deck for getting up to speed things along. Remember that if you testify this evening, you will not be able to testify at the continuation of the hearing. I'm going to call up Shannon Spurlock, Dana miller, Saffron Bennett's her. Is it special? Molly Hansen and Candice Orlando. And call up first, Shannon Spurlock. And I'll be speaking with Dana miller jointly. We don't usually do that. You get 3 minutes and she gets 3 minutes. You want to take 3 minutes together? Yeah. Okay. Yes. Shoot. Hello, everyone. My name is Dana miller and this is Shannon Spurlock. We're the co-chairs of the Denver Sustainable Food Policy Council. And we're really, really glad and excited to be here. And thank you so much for the opportunity to talk about this passionate and wonderful possible change for Denver. I live at 1421, Jasmine and I live in Denver, so I would like number one for her to have all of the people in the room that are here for support to please raise your carrots. Here we go. Thank you very much. Okay. And another thing I'd like to talk a little bit about and then Shannon's going to talk about the PFC. But my vision of Denver is one that looks a little bit like this. So I don't know if you remember that Kenny B did this beautiful poster for the Denver County Fair that has Denver completely replete with with food growing everywhere all over the place. We've got food growing off of rooftops and in gardens and in school gardens and on public property. And there's food that's being grown and shared and. Eaten and sold all over the place. That is the vision that we have for Denver and as a resilient, beautiful food, a gorgeous place. So that's the big image, the big vision. And to partner with you all and making that a reality for Denver. So thank you. Minute 46. Thank you, Madam Chair, and members of Council. My name is Shannon and my address is 3166 West 35th Avenue, Denver. And as co-chair of the Food Policy Council, Dana and I have been working collectively with members of council for just around two years now to identify policy priorities that were really relevant to residents of the city and county of Denver. And when that came out, was increasing food access by allowing people to grow and sell their own food. We think this can be pivotal for members for neighborhoods throughout Denver, allowing to grow their own food, meet members of their community through the sales of the food, help increase healthy food access and provide economic development community opportunity. We hope you'll support this. And if we can answer any questions, please let us know. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well done. I'd like to call up Saffron Bennett Spurlock. Oh, good. I thank you, Madam Chair, and members of Council. My name is Saffron. I live in the Highlands neighborhood and I go to the Logan School in Denver. For a while. I have loved gardening and for a long time my family has had a garden. This year, when I heard about this new idea, I was really excited because it sounded fun and for a long time I wanted to have my own stand. I think it's a good idea because you can build a stronger community, earn money from home, and learn about gardening and business. I will be selling to friends and neighbors from Small Stand My Neighborhood. I really hope this law passes because I think it's a very good idea. Thank you. That was excellent. Thank you very much for your testimony. Mr. Spurlock finished. Spurlock. I would like to call up now. Candidate No. Molly Hansen. Hello. My name is Molly Hansen, Madam Chair and members of the Council, thank you very much for this opportunity to speak again. My name is Molly Hanson. I live at 1315 Vine in Denver. I also work at Jefferson County Public Health as a health policy analyst working on healthy eating, active living strategies. So in my role both at Jefferson County Public Health and as a private citizen, I work to increase access to healthy, safe and locally grown food for all individuals and families, regardless of income, age and address. I want to thank Council for your work to increase access to healthy families, communities, environments, for example, your great work to create infrastructure to ensure families can walk and cycle to important uses like schools, parks and businesses. I urge Council to consider amending the zoning code to allow for retail of fresh. And cut produce. And cottage food produced by growers on residentially zoned properties. It seems like this is an important step with your healthy community work by allowing the sale of residentially grown produce either by growers or neighbors or at community gardens, Denver will foster access to healthy, affordable food. They'll also work to decrease hunger in low income communities where food deserts exist. In Jefferson County, two communities have enacted similar zoning codes. I had the pleasure of speaking with the city of Wheat Ridge today to ask them about their similar zoning code. UPDATE. What they said to me was there were very positive impacts in the community when they did the similar zoning code update in 2011. This zoning code update allows produce stands to sell locally grown products such as raw vegetables, fruits and herbs. The city staff said that they've had no complaints on record. It has supported the local community, it has supported connections in the community, and there has been really no negative impacts on the character of the neighborhoods. I also had the opportunity to speak to local growers in Wheat Ridge as the live well wheat rich coordinator. Consistently, I heard that this new provision has allowed market gardens and farmers markets and produce stands to connect growers to one another, to create opportunities to increase and grow local economic sectors in neighborhoods, and to really improve the overall image of Wheat Ridge as an urban or suburban environment that supports local food systems. I think as a resident, I'm passionate about bringing this additional zoning code amendment to Denver, and we thank you for your consideration. Thank you. Ms.. Hanson. Candace Orlando. Good evening, Madam Chair, and members of Council. My name is Candice Orlando. I live at 2921. My short place in Val Verde, near neighborhood. I am the executive director, co-founder and farmer of Permaculture Community Farms, and I'm so excited to be here today, to be a part of this beautiful community and to pass this bill that will lead the way to many, many, many places that will focus on localizing food. We are where the future here it is right now. So let's vote for goodness here. I want to talk about community as some of you guys know. We started six years. As a neighborhood, supported. Agriculture. And so people would buy shares in the beginning of the season and we would grow food. On different plots throughout Denver where people pick up their food. We have two locations, one in the Sunnyside neighborhood and one in the La alma Lincoln Park neighborhood. And the connections that are made there are amazing. People get to know each other. They come. They talk about, you know, recipes that they can make. With the food, how much kale. Can we really use? And more kale and more kale. And then they talk about how to use the kale. So community is really built in these stands and talking. About food and growing food. It really is powerful and amazing and people that wouldn't normally get to know each other, get to know each other. So I would just urge you to pass this bill. I'm really excited about it. And thank you for letting me speak. Thank you, Miss Orlando. I'm going to call up Deborah Nealon. And as she's coming up, I'd like to ask Blake, Angelo, Maya, Bella, Celine Duran and Court and Noel, muchas say. So that matches it back up to the front pew to get ready. All right. Debra Nealon, go right ahead. Madam President, council members, my name is Debra Neeley. I live. In the Sloan's Lake neighborhood. At 26th 46 Raleigh Street. I have a double lot in the. City, 6400 square feet. I have a small bungalow house on there and the rest of it is edible landscaping. It's very tastefully done, though. It's beautiful. I have culinary herbs and medicinal herbs. And I also have a lot of vegetables. Growing everywhere and of a greenhouse chickens and bees. I think basically my passion is absolutely growing food. It's just I can't get enough of it. The other reason. I do this is to feed. My family and friends healthy, organic food. I'm very much passionate about eating well, and unfortunately it is an addiction. The only drawback. To this is. That while I'm saving money, not buying high priced. Produce at the. Grocery store, it still does cost quite a bit to do this. So I'd really like to recoup some of that money by selling produce on my property. I'm not planning on having a grocery store. I just want to let the neighbors. Know that this is what. I do and I'd like to offer. This produce to them. I'm going to rely on word of mouth, maybe use next tor.com. They're going to plan on, you know, having a big affair. You know, just come on by and get some produce. I've lived in Denver since 1977, and I'm very, very proud. Of the progress that this city has. Made in all these years, how vibrant and progressive it is. And I'd like to tip my farmer's hat off to you all for considering this. Residential bill sales ordinance and in the name of empowering our citizens to be more self-sufficient and to thrive. Thank you all for considering this. Thank you, Ms.. Nealon. Blake Angelo. Madam Chair, members of the Council, thank you for having this public hearing today. My address is 501 South Cherry Street, number 580. Today I speak as an individual and a small business owner, but over the last four years, I've had the chance to work in part with Colorado State University and the extension service focused on urban agriculture through my combined private business and my work with CSU. I've worked with over 200 farmers and food entrepreneurs. Many of these farmers are struggling to make a living. That's not unique to farming by any means, but 40 to 50% of their costs go to labor, including a large portion of which to marketing their produce, to removing the produce from the place that it grows to sell. This is an opportunity to improve the profitability of these limited income businesses, to help support the individuals who are innovating with farms on their property. Sometimes they even are prohibited from starting farms because of the cost of marketing their produce or distributing it to people who are interested in purchasing. I've also had the experience of working with a number of cities and also the State Office of Economic Development, who see food systems as inherent community and economic development. Within food systems. We see innovation both in terms of food production, new methods under glass cultivation, tower gardens, and also manufactured food products that are stimulating a new portion of our economy, both locally and as a state we are. We also see community and economic development for historically, economically isolated, isolated or disenfranchized individuals. These have included veterans, inner city youth, people transitioning from prison, and others who have found a way to both be personally empowered and economically empowered through a livelihood in the food system . Lastly, I have recently completed my Master's in public health, and I'd like to speak a little bit to the ability of local foods to be part of the solution towards the growing obesity, diabetes and chronic disease epidemics of our current society. While this local food bill is certainly not a comprehensive solution to those problems, it is a step in the right direction. It is an opportunity for you all and us all as a community to take forward looking steps to start to reverse the tide. Lastly, I'd like to thank the Denver Sustainable Food Policy Council, of which I was an ex-officio member and of which I have watched consistently as they've engaged community and they've developed best practice research, looking both across Colorado and across the nation to put together these recommendations for you all today. I'd like to thank you for your time and support this bill. Thank you very much, Mr. Angelo. Maya. Ba ba ba ba ba ba. I might be a I'm with liberation sequence gardens. And I said on the Sustainable Food Policy Council. I actually live at 5301 West 51st Ave, and I just moved out of the Clayton neighborhood, 2500 East 33rd Avenue, where I do a lot of my work with that live well community. My partner and I have been building street sidewalk level gardens there and opening up this experiment of what it is to engage community in this really radical way. And it's been fun and it's been crazy and I am so excited that we have this opportunity to see what's possible next. And I guess there's a lot of reasons I support this zoning amendment, but the main thing is I come at it from the social capital piece of what it is to especially in communities where you have real estate is changing and you've got old timers that have been there for decades and decades and decades. And we we have a halfway house just down the street and a new Buddhist temple. And what is it? What does it look like on the street sidewalk level with those members of the community? And when we first started doing this gardening project three years ago, unless you knew each other, everybody was in their sort of bubble . And now there is a place where we can kind of come together. And food is proving to be a pretty accessible platform for folks to talk about solutions for a 21st century ready community. A real quick story. The Grow House is an organization up in Elyria, Swansea, and I've been taking an herb class with mostly Latina ladies . It's in Spanish, which is great because I don't know any Spanish and I'm learning how to speak Spanish. And we are also helping them build a garden over in the whole neighborhood. And we've been shoveling manure and woodchips and sweating and the kids came out and we have this great intergenerational build and the dialog between the women and we've had some great professional support in these gardens, but we're getting these women to learn how to grow herbs, to make tinctures, to help with asthma in their family or digestive issues. And as they're learning how to incorporate these things into their own life. Making some and sharing it with their neighbors. And honestly, 20, even 20 bucks a week extra is huge. It's huge. And and they're so motivated and they're so excited. And I feel really honored to be a part of a learning community with these women. And what's possible in the next couple of years is really, really exciting. So thank you so much for considering this amendment and see it make it stand. Thank you, Ms.. Celine. And please pronounce your name for me. My name is Celine Dion. Cool. I'm here. Thank you, Madam Councilwoman. I'm here with liberation sequence gardens to testify. Recently moved to the Denver area from Phenix, Arizona. And actually before that, what's more important is that I grew up, my. Father was a director of. The International Hunger Program. So growing up throughout my life, issues of hunger all over the world have always been extremely important to me. Getting to see different programs like the Heifer Project Act in different countries around the world. Just the simple act of putting a calf or a go into an impoverished community that cannot sustain itself due to lack of funds, due to lack of a million things. Water, all sorts of things has really impacted just the importance of giving people a chance to sustain themselves, to give their families a chance to feel pride in being able to provide just the simple things, even for children to be able to sell things that they produce. It's very important because it gives a sense of accountability and pride. So that's why I'm here, to help support this wonderful building, already amazing place, which is Denver, Colorado. Thank you. Thank you very much, Noel. Is it that can as she's coming up I'd like to call Jaclyn Chaves Sundari Kraft Angelo Cantor. A tour. To the front pew thank you for your patience. Go right ahead. Mismatches avec Marquez attack melchizedek. My name is Noel Melchizedek. I live at 1627 East Asbury Avenue 80210. So I'm a Denver resident and I also work for Livewell, Colorado as the Denver Regional Coordinator and I facilitate the live of Denver Regional Collaborative. So little Colorado educating inspires adults and children to eat healthier and be more active. Because I'll call it when when people make healthier choices, that makes all of Colorado healthier in and of itself. We also have a community investment strategy. And in Denver alone, over the course of nine years, we have funded six current and previous community coalitions for a total of $6.5 million. And we've touched 18 neighborhoods in the city of Denver so far. My role is as facilitating the Denver Regional Collaborative means that not only are we supporting this ordinance and hope to see it pass, but we're really thinking about what's next. So I know concerns have arisen about safe produce handling, what classes are there available, how can residents learn that this is even possible, how to apply and how to be in compliance? And I want to let you know that in addition to the $6.5 million of what Colorado has already invested in the city and county of Denver through these community coalitions, we're absolutely on board to help support implementation activities, to coordinate classes in these neighborhoods and across the city, and to let residents know how to grow organic or however they'd like best practices. We've partnered with a Sustainable Food Policy Council, CSU extension and others to bring these resources into the neighborhoods. And we're absolutely open to more ideas of how to reach out across the city to provide these different types of classes. So the Colorado and the Denver Regional Collaborative looks forward to supporting implementation activities after this ordinance passes, and we thank you for your support. Thank you very much. Mr. Market. Mrdak Jaclyn Sheaves shares my name. Right. You said it right. Okay, good. Hi, everyone. My name is Jaclyn. She was the name of it 1011 Colorado Boulevard in District ten. Thank you, Madam President, and council members, for having me here today as a strong supporter of the proposed Zoning Code Amendment to allow residential sales of agricultural products in Denver. As a Denver constituent, a novice, very novice gardener, educator at the State Health Department and previous member of the Denver Sustainable Food Policy Council, I value the role that locally grown healthy food plays in promoting health, fostering food security, connecting community, stimulating the economy, and protecting the environment. In 2011, my husband and I moved back to Denver from a five year stint in Atlanta. On our moving day, we met our neighbor Harvey, a gentleman in his sixties who had been here for 50 years with his wife Lila, in the Berkeley neighborhood. He greeted us with much. Both from his own garden and started a friendship where we looked out for each other, not only exchanging produce, but talking about each other's day from our front porches, something I had never done with a neighbor before. When our dog ran away, Harry returned him to us. And when the weather got cold, we brought them soup. It all started with a vegetable exchange. Recent data shows fruit and vegetable consumption has declined significantly over the last three decades. Fewer than half Americans report eating five or more servings of fruits or vegetables and five or more days per week. Yet increased fruit and vegetable consumption has been shown to decrease the risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke. So more needs to be done to accomplish to improve the food environment, such as access, availability and affordability of fruits and vegetables. I was shocked at how much my husband and I saved every month and our grocery budget from going to King Soopers to buy produce to growing it ourselves. I ended up with way more tomatoes and squash than I ever wanted and needed something to do with it. But I knew with the zoning code I had nothing to do. Selling it to someone was not something I could do at the time. I recently learned from my friend in Atlanta the landscape of a home on a quarter to a half acre lot receiving full sunlight can grow enough vegetables and fruit to provide for family members with 5x14 servings a day for an entire year. Underserved neighborhoods like Westwood are taking advantage of this. These benefits with organizations like Rear Vision International helping residents grow their own backyard gardens to feed their families healthy food and expand the local food system. By allowing for the sale of agricultural products from residential sites, people in every low income community can be encouraged to plant their own backyard gardens, not only for their personal consumption, but to generate supplemental income so they don't have to rely on the dollar menu at McDonald's to feed their families. This has been one of the biggest complaints I have gotten as health educator in obesity prevention. I cannot afford fruits and vegetables. It's too expensive. According to National Gardening Association estimates, a well-maintained food garden can yield an estimated half pound of fresh produce per square foot, yielding a $500 return on average when considering a typical gardener's investment and the market price of produce. In this economy, any chance for families to make a little extra income is a good thing. And with the security measures that we added, buyers will be protected as only whole uncut produce. Produce will be allowed to be sold. Presidents of the zoning code has accused Ms.. Chiefs, your time is up. Thank you very much. Sundari Craft. Thank you, Madam President. And members for you and members of council. My name is Sandra Elizabeth Kraft. I own property at 4461 on a court in the Berkeley neighborhood, although my family has recently moved half a mile west into Wheat Ridge. I am the founding co-chair of the Denver Sustainable Food Policy Council, as well as the owner of Heirloom Gardens and the founder of the of Sustainable Food, Denver. You've heard other people tonight. Talk to you about other cities that have successfully implemented similar ordinances. They've talked to you about the economic impact for families of an ordinance like this. And they've talked to you about the impact on food access and food justice. And so I don't want to duplicate their efforts. Instead, what I'd like to talk to you about is a broader picture of what an ordinance like this would mean for the overall culture of Denver, both for people who are living within Denver. And for the way that. Denver is perceived by those who live outside of our city. In the past several years, Denver has taken a number of very impressive steps in the areas of sustainability and specifically in sustainable food policy. In 2010, you passed a new zoning code that had a number of important and very helpful urban agricultural. Provisions. In it. In 2011. You passed the WHO. Producing Animals ordinance. Thank you very much, which was a huge victory for sustainable food in Denver. The city has adopted some great policies and that's due in large part to great work by city staff and great work by city council. And these policies have been implemented very sensibly. But what these policies really are addressing is the production of food. They don't talk about what happens to the food after it is produced. And so this element of residential sales is really an important part of completing this whole picture of sustainable food in Denver. And as someone who has been active. In sustainable. Food policy issues in Denver over the past several years. I can tell you that to me. This ordinance what this ordinance does is the the big thing that was missing for me. This we have great policies in so many different areas. This is what I wanted this last piece. And I can't promise that I will never bother you again for anything. But I can tell you that really and truly what this ordinance does really goes a long way towards completing the picture for sustainable food in Denver. It is very important and I'm very proud of the work that has been done and very excited to see this pass in Denver. So please vote yes. Thank you. Thank you. Miss Craft, Jill Lowcountry or local tour. Hello. My name is Jill Logan. Tori and I'm a resident of the City Park West neighborhood. I live at 2145 East 16th Avenue, and I'm here to testify in favor of the proposed amendment. You heard earlier during the staff. Report that the amendment is consistent. With Denver's comprehensive plan and with the mayor's sustainability plan. It also directly supports your own community health improvement plan, which focuses on healthy eating and active active living as a priority area and set specific objectives for increasing access to healthy food in underserved areas, and also for increasing the number of areas that support active physical activity. Currently, the USDA estimates that at least one sixth of Denver's population lives in a food desert. This lack of access to neighborhood grocery stores is especially burdensome to people who can't drive, either because of income or age or disability. And so. The. Beauty of this proposed amendment is that it would allow people to access healthy, fresh food simply by walking around their own neighborhoods. Research has shown that people who are able to incorporate walking into their daily activities, such as shopping for food, are more likely to achieve their recommended 30, 30 minutes of daily physical activity. And so the great thing is you can encourage both healthy eating and active living with this one change to the zoning code. Finally, I wanted to say that I agree with the Denver Post editorial that questioned why residential food sales were ever outlawed in the first place. I personally don't have a lot of time to grow my own vegetables, but I love the idea of being able to pay my neighbor and share in the produce that they grow. And frankly, it seems a little silly that it's illegal to do that right now. So I encourage you to pass the proposed amendment and thank you for your consideration. Thank you very much. Miss Logan. Tori, Council Councilmember. Note to members you can ask questions now of the speakers if you like, but please hold your comments until they we close the public hearing at the next June 4th, July 14th meeting. Are there questions for council Councilwoman? CORNISH Thank you, Madam President. One question we did not have here today, but was in the packets that folks received from our constituents, was just a little bit about the safety of food in terms of the kinds of food on the list. So I was wondering if environmental health could take just a moment to speak to the foods that are allowed and why they're allowed and why we feel confident as a city in terms of public health. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of City Council. My name is Bob McDonald. I'm the director of Public Health Inspections and Environmental Health. I'm sorry you don't have a carrot with me this afternoon. Yeah, that's tomato in my briefcase, but it was smashed, so I'm afraid that leaves me empty handed. But I can certainly address any food safety concerns you might have. I guess I'll start out by saying that my counterparts and our counterparts at the State Health Department did their work here. These are truly low risk foods, foods that that really, quite honestly, isn't anything taking place here other than the sales transaction that doesn't already take place. You know, these are low risk foods that that neighbor share that coworkers bring into the office that people can already share. Denver citizens can bring these foods to farmers markets and sell it. And if they sell it uncut, it's not even regulated. Now, sometimes they asked with this type of bill being that it's exempt because it's low risk foods, it's exempt from Denver's food safety laws sometimes ask, would we be able to respond to a concern if there was one? We certainly can not under chapter 23 Denver's Food Safety Regulations, but under Chapter 24, which is titled the General Health and Sanitation Laws for the City of Denver, which would allow the Department of Environmental Health to address any health concern on public or private land of any type. Now, having said that, I don't anticipate any. I've been in contact with my counterpart, the director of the State Consumer Protection Division, and I've spoken with his members and my counterparts up in the Larimer County and Boulder County, Jefferson County. And I believe, as previous speaker mentioned, that they haven't had any concerns and I haven't heard of any concerns either. So with that said, I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. That's all. Thank you, Madam President. Councilman Brooks. Thank you, Mr. Watson. I have a couple questions for you. There's another group of folks I mean, this managing health risks, you know, the safety. I think Bob is kind of addressed. But there's another concern of, you know, furniture and and things kind of crowding people's space. And, you know, my my neighbor has this couch out there. He's selling. He's got his table. What kind of how was this bill put together in kind of mitigating some of those issues? Sure. So we actually because we knew that would be a concern. And it's so important to keep the visible impact of a home occupation like this to a minimum. Worked with our neighborhood inspection services. That would be the folks actually out in the field inspecting and making sure there's compliance with the regulations, help craft the right language so that they feel like they have what they need. And so what that includes is very specific language that first of all, you can only have temporary movable furniture. So as soon as you have something that you've actually mounted to the ground and has to kind of stay in place, you're violating the code. There's also a requirement that you have to bring whatever physical evidence you have inside whenever you're not in permitted operating hours. So what's on the floor tonight would be eight a am to dusk. So any time beyond those hours you would not be able to leave anything out in your yard. We've also crafted the language to talk about temporary outdoor furniture. So something they felt pretty comfortable that something they they already deal with when people are trying to kind of store indoor furniture outside or on a porch. It's a similar type of issue where things like a couch, for example, wouldn't be allowed. Yeah. Tell me about signage. Sure. How is that limited? So signage for all home occupations, including this proposed one tonight, is limited to for most properties, it'd be one signs, basically one per street frontage. So we had a corner lot with two street frontage, you potentially up to four. Most would be one sign. It can be no greater than 100 square inches. So very small. It has to be flat non-illuminated a non animated and it has to be affixed to the house so it can be like on the wall or window so you can't have a sign out towards the street or, you know, on a tree in your front yard or anything like that. Okay. And this is a 100 square inches. How big is that? Ten by ten by ten inches or in the spot? Even a foot by foot. So. Okay. Right. Okay. In my last question, and this is a little bit bigger, maybe you can help out with some technical aspects of this. How pervasive is this around the United States? How many municipalities have actually put this ordinance in place? You know, you may not know the actual number, but just I think it's good for the public to know that they never. Not the first. Sure. And also, you know, a little bit of how some best practices that you've seen in your studies. Have we kind of crafted our language here? Sure. Yeah. You are correct that I cannot tell you the exact number of communities that have this kind of law on the books. But we looked at about ten in total, and that included pretty large cities, some medium sized. So just to give you an example of kind of the range, we're looking at cities like Cleveland and Kansas City, Portland and Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia. So quite a range to choose from, which is great because as you noted, we're able to then look at their ordinances and best practices to help shape ours. So some of the things that you see in our bill, including, for example, limitations on the hours of operation. We saw that and a lot of other bills. Most of them actually. I think it's interesting. We're starting very early, like six or 7 a.m. for those who did limit it. And another thing that I would note is we were able to actually contact one of those cities. They're planning staff. It was in Portland and they have had there I'm not going to remember the exact number of years, but it's been significant, I think maybe 2 to 3 years that they've had this law on the books. And they said not only have they had a fair number of people actually doing residential sales of produce for them, it's specifically produced, but they've had a lot of people participating and so far, no complaints at all. Hmm. Thank you for the questions. Okay, Councilwoman Shepherd. Thank you, Madam Chair. So I know that there's there's been great testimony tonight, but there's actually not been anybody speaking against. But I'm sure there may be people in the television audience that are really concerned with one big question, and that is the fact that we have legalized the sale of recreational marijuana and maybe worried that brownies or something like that might be sold, you know, by people who are attempting to be innocuous. Tell us how that is going to be handled. Sure. Yeah, it's a it's an important issue. I just want to be clear that selling marijuana from your home would be a criminal offense. And so I think the there's several areas in the city that you can be investigated against. So the first would be the Denver police would be involved because it is a criminal law that you'd be breaking. The second would be not being in compliance with our excise and license requirements. So anybody who's selling recreational marijuana has to have a very specific license to do that. If you are selling without one, whether it's from your home or on the street or in a makeshift commercial stand that you made yourself, whatever it is you are not licensed, you are in violation and can also be found and be fined and have other issues for that violation. And then a third category of our regulations that you would be found to have noncompliance with is the zoning code itself. Again, the zoning code makes it very clear that you wouldn't be able to sell marijuana of any type, including infused into products like brownies as part of this. And I would also like to note that the Denver Police Department and my department that does neighborhood inspections and ensures the zoning code is being met as well as exercise and license, are already well coordinated on how to enforce marijuana issues. We already have people violating our recreational marijuana laws and folks that deal with compliance. And all of those departments with the Denver police being heavily involved have worked out the protocol that they use when these issues come up. So we have that infrastructure in place. But just clarify for me, if a neighbor thinks that another neighbor is selling something that might have marijuana in it. You have to speak into your. Oh, I'm sorry. So if a neighbor thinks another neighbor is selling marijuana illegally, what do they do? Just make it clear. Sure. Call 311 right away. And there will be a basically Denver police reports to any investigation that involves marijuana. And then they can also bring in neighborhood inspections and excise and license as needed. But they can call the police as well. They could. Yes, you could also call the police. In particular of children. Yes. And yeah, especially if you are concerned, you know, the children are that somebody is actually has a product that's not safe. You know, definitely call the police. Thank you. Okay, Councilwoman Ortega. Thank you. Madam President. If you could stay there for a moment, Sarah. Sure. Can you address whether or not people are able to grow any of this produce in the public? Right of way? Yeah. That's governed by public works, which is not my department. So I don't know all the details about. I do know they have regulations about how tall any type of plant can be, whether it's food producing or not. But in general, yes, you can have food producing food in the right of way. Okay. And I have one question for one of our speakers, and this is for Saffron Spurlock. Saffron. I didn't mean to scare you, but would you. Come up so I can ask you a question? Oh, it's the lady over there. So if. You can go back to the. Microphone there. She was looking around for who was asking the question. Stand on the bench, you. Know? You know, so. So my first question for you, Saffron, is there, how would you encourage other young people to participate in gardening with their family members, with their neighbors? All right. Tell some of my friends about it and let them know that it's a good idea. I mean. Great. Yeah. So what can you tell us? What it is that you're growing or you plan to grow in your garden? Well, I have onions, I have some radishes, I have lettuce, and I have carrots and. Beans. And then some other things and tomatoes. All right. I might have to come over and buy some for me once they're all grown. All right. Thank you for coming and testifying. Hopefully, this is encouraging more young people to participate as well. You're welcome. Councilman Brown. Thank you. Madam President, is molly is still in the room, mali. I think it sounds like she had to step out. She's not. Here anymore. Okay, well, maybe one of you can answer the question because she said that she wanted to allow the sale of uncut produce. I'm not familiar with that term. I can clarify that. It's a good question. It's a term that's used a lot to describe. What we're basically talking about is you can cut fruit from or vegetables from the vine, but then you need to sell them whole. So our zoning language uses the same word, meaning that if you want to sell your tomatoes, you can't have actually taken a knife and cut them into pieces. So you're selling and in this case, you have to be selling, whether it's fruit or vegetables whole. And that's because of food safety issues. So an example is a lot is the listeria outbreak with the cantaloupe that happened a couple of years ago. A lot of it was spreading. That is that it was on the skin of the cantaloupes. If you haven't properly washed it and then you cut it with a knife, that actually brings the contamination into the fruit. So by not cutting the produce before it's sold, that helps to ensure that it becomes the buyer's responsibility to wash the produce appropriately before it's cut. Right. That's interesting. I did not know that. Thank you. And Madam President, if I may, because I know we cannot take positions tonight because this is a zoning matter. But I would like to thank everyone for coming down. It's rare that we get 13 speakers that are so positive. I just. You have no idea. And Blake, thank you. The only male to speak tonight. And finally, I hope you don't mind if we call you the Carrot Caucus. Is that. All right? Great. Thank you, Madam President. Very good. Thank you, Councilman Brown. I have just one one question. I don't think anybody addressed this. I understand the sign. You currently have that 1000 inches. Is there any other kinds of limitations on the advertising you can do, such as next door or local newspapers or any or any kind of other? Is there any kind of limitation on their advertising? There's not. The limitations are meant to address the visible impacts on the neighborhood. So it just addresses the visible signage, but it does not address social media or Internet or other ways of advertising. Okay. Thank you very much. All right. I see no other questions. Councilmembers. We're not going to vote on the proposed amendment to change the time at which sales could begin from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m.. And I was wondering if there would be comments by members of Council on that amendment. It is on the floor and seconded. And I see, Councilwoman Sheppard, you would like to make a comment on the amendment? Well, I just wanted to make a general comment, because I'm not going to be here on final. We can't. We can't. I had another question by another council person. It's you can't comment because it's an open. And hearing it's a zoning question. People know, why am I going? Well, you can let people know why you're not going to be here. So you can't comment on that. Well, I just wanted to thank everyone for their testimony today. And it was really good and thoughtful and moving. And I just want to let the public know that I am very happy to co-sponsor this bill. But unfortunately, because of the mix up with the dates, I'm not going to be here on July 14th for a final reading. And I just want to make sure that you guys know that. But I'm very disappointed that I'm going to miss it. Okay. Thank you. All right. So do we have comments on the proposed amendment? Councilwoman Kennish. Thank you, Madam President. I have you saw in the presentation that we did outreach to more than 23 RINO's directly, and that included two trips to the inner neighborhood cooperation, which is our citywide registered neighborhood organization. And we really did sincerely ask for their feedback and their input on this, as well as answering questions. I've said before from this dais that it's never my approach to governing, that you count to seven and then stop discussing something. And so even though we had support from more registered neighborhood organizations than we had opposition, even though we had many members of council in support, because as a text amendment, we are allowed to take a position on this. You know, beforehand, unlike a map amendment, I still wanted to take that input very seriously. And so one of the things that we heard was from the inner neighborhood cooperation, which is our city wide, our No. Seven felt a little early, and we went ahead and discussed that along with the folks who do this, some folks who grow food and some folks who want to. And we asked, is there some space for compromise here to help folks know that they were heard? And I was very pleased that folks said, you know, it's important for us to be able to harvest in the morning and get food, you know, may be sold before you go to work or before you go to soccer practice on a Saturday because, you know, things will turn the summer. Tomatoes get skunky if they get in the sun after they're ripe. So 10:00 was a little too late. But there was this willingness to move to say, you know what, if this will help folks and communities and neighborhoods feel better about this, we're willing to to move just a little bit. And so so that was the origin of this amendment was an attempt to say, that's good feedback that you've given us, folks who do this and believe that it's important, not that everyone on every block will be doing this, it'll probably be a very small number. But for that small number, it's important. So our co-sponsors today, we discussed this and felt that it was a really good compromise. There was no particular timing for the neighborhood organizations who share this concern to go back and vote on it formally. So I'm not here with their endorsement that yes, eight is right. But we did informally share the information with folks and folks were appreciative of our willingness to hear their feedback. So so that's the origin of this amendment. I would encourage my council members to support it in the in the spirit of working with our neighborhoods and in the spirit of keeping the business opportunity working for those who are interested, i think it's a good balance to move it to. 8 a.m. So that's the amendment before you and I would ask my colleagues to support it. Thank you, Councilwoman. And I see no other comments. So, Madam Secretary, would you please call the roll? Can each layman Hi. LOPEZ All right. Montero. Nevitt Hi. Ortega I rob. Shepherd I. Crooks I. Brown I. Fox I. Lopez Madam President. I. Madam Secretary, close the voting. Announce the. Results. Always 12 eyes. The amendment to the ordinance is a text amendment. The amendment to the amendment is passed. I think is what we're saying. Councilwoman, please. We need a motion to continue the public hearing and to postpone final consideration to Monday, July 14th. Thank you, Madam President. I move that the public hearing on Council Bill 398 as amended, be continued and final consideration postponed to Monday, July 14th, 2014. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Are there any comments and seeing none. Madam Secretary, roll call. Can each high layman Lopez Monteiro Nevitt? Never know. What. They're voting on. The polls, the public hearings. I'll take a guess, I guess. Hi, Rob. Hi, Chip. I Brooks. Brown. I fight. I got a president. I. Madam Secretary, close voting. Announce the results. 12 eyes. 12 eyes. The public hearing is postponed until July 14th, and I have no announcements to make. So see no other business for this body. This meeting is adjourned. Denver 87. 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