This page provides an overview of urban agriculture and community gardening for local governments in Washington State, including local examples and recommended resources.

Overview

According to the USDA, around 15 percent of the world's food is now grown in urban areas. City and suburban agriculture takes the form of backyard, roof-top and balcony gardening, community gardening in vacant lots and parks, roadside urban fringe agriculture and livestock grazing in open space.

Community gardens promote healthy communities and provide food security for many low income persons. In an urban setting, community gardens are part of the open space network. The gardens and those who participate in community gardening contribute to the preservation of open space, provide access to it, and create sustainable uses of the space. Community gardens strengthen community bonds, provide food, and create recreational and therapeutic opportunities for a community. They can also promote environmental awareness and provide community education.

One of the goals to create healthy communities is to improve nutrition in the community as a whole. These strategies are described in the Washington State Nutrition and Physical Activity Plan (NPASP) (2003) developed by DOH and its partners. Washington's strategic plan has among its objectives increasing access to health promoting foods. An example is increasing the availability of and access to local community gardens.

At the national level is USDA's People's Garden Initiative. People's Gardens vary in size and type, but all are required to have three components in common. They must benefit the community, in some cases by creating recreational spaces and in others by providing a harvest for a local food bank or shelter. They must be collaborative - that is, the garden must be created and maintained by a partnership of local individuals, groups, or organizations. And third, they should incorporate sustainable practices.

Public community garden programs are generally administered by the community development or parks department. In Seattle the city-wide community gardening program is under the Department of Neighborhoods. Other gardening programs involve public and private schools and other institutions. Some jurisdictions are changing policies to encourage residents to plant vegetables and other edible foods and allow a limited number of farm animals, such as chickens in the city.

Local Community Garden Programs

Many communities in Washington have community gardens, including quite a few small jurisdictions as well as many of the largest. Below are some examples:

City/Town Examples

• Bellevue Community Gardens and Farms
• Bellingham Community Gardens
• Bonney Lake Community Garden
• Bremerton Blueberry Park P-Patch Garden
• Coupeville Community Garden
• Davenport Community Garden
• Issaquah Urban Agriculture
• Kent Community Garden
• Mukilteo Community Garden
• Olympia Community Gardens
• Puyallup Community Garden Plots
• Seattle P-Patch Community Gardens
• Tacoma Metro Parks Community Gardens - Tacoma/Pierce County Community Garden Program is managed by the Pierce County Conservation District
• Vancouver Community Gardens
• Westport Community Garden

County Examples

• Clark County Community Gardens
• Kittitas County Food Access Coalition Community Gardens
• Thurston County Community Gardens - Thurston County Public Health & Social Services works with local partners to increase access to healthy foods throughout the county. There are currently 13 community gardens in Thurston County

Interlocal Agreements and Contracts

• Anacortes and Anacortes School District ILA for Community Garden at Anacortes Middle School (2013)
• Bonney Lake Lease Agreement for a Community Garden on Downtown Property (2013) - Agreement for a nonprofit to operate a garden on city property
• Tumwater Service Provider Agreement with GRuB (2010) - Generic agreement to build at least 10 vegetable gardens for low-income residents

Community Gardens and Youth

• GRuB: Youth Programs - Garden-Raised Bounty (GRuB) is a nonprofit working to empower people and grow good food in Thurston and Mason counties. Among its programs, it provides agriculture-based education, employment and dropout programs for youth.
• Seattle Tilth Alliance: Youth Garden Works - Job skills training program for youth
• American Horticulture Association: Youth Gardening

School Gardens

• Washington Department of Agriculture: Farm-to-School - includes map of school gardens
• Washington Green Schools - Washington Green Schools is a nonprofit program supported by government agencies, individuals, businesses and foundations. Its robust educational resources are available to all public and private K-12 schools in Washington state

Gardening in Public Right-of-Way

In these samples, residents may garden in planting strips without a street use permit, provided the planting meets height and setback requirements. Street use permit is required for trees or hardscape elements such as raised beds.

• Seattle
  • Planting in the Right-of-Way
  • Gardening in Planting Strips (2018, Client Assistance Memo 2305) - Overview for residents interested in using parking strip to garden
• Tacoma: Planting in the Rights-of-Way

Urban Agriculture

• National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity: Seeding the City (2011) - Free publication provides information on land use policies to promote urban agriculture
• Zoning for Urban Agriculture, by Nina Mukherji and Alfonso Morales, Zoning Practice, March 2010 (Available through MRSC Library Loan)

Local Examples

• Federal Way Municipal Code Ch. 19.262 (adopted 2013) – Sec. 19.262.030 states that “urban farm uses” are permitted in any zone, but must meet certain requirements (such as submitting an urban farm management plan)
• Lacey Municipal Code Ch. 16.21 (last amended 2013) – This chapter has different standards for residential lot less than and greater than one acre.
• Olympia Municipal Code Ch. 18.04 - Agricultural uses (see definition in Sec. 18.02.180) appear to be permitted in all single-family zones (see Sec 18.04.040-Tables: Permitted and Conditional Uses), but may be subject to some limitations covered by Sec. 18.04.060 (such as for “agricultural animals”)
• Seattle​
  • Ordinance No. 123378 (2010) - Supports urban agriculture, modifies restrictions on greenhouses and solariums and on the keeping of domestic fowl, clarifies and modifies definitions for key terms related to urban agriculture
  • Urban Agriculture (2010, Client Assistance Memo No. 244) - Information about new ordinance and required permits

Recommended Resources

• Washington Department of Health: Growing Nourishing Food Systems (2013) - Guide to help local governments encourage healthy eating, including examples of comprehensive plan elements and zoning provisions encouraging urban agriculture (see pages 15-17).
• American Community Gardening Association - Organization encourages community gardening across the U.S. and Canada
• National Recreation and Park Association: Community Gardens: Strategies & Resources (2011) - Special Parks and Recreation magazine supplement
• U.S. Department of Agriculture: Local Foods and Communities - Resources related to urban agriculture and community gardening
• Urban Land Institute: Urban Agriculture: Practices to Improve Cities (2011)
• Brooklyn Botanic Garden: Community Gardening - For-purchase publication
• Greening Cities, Growing Communities: Learning from Seattle's Urban Community Gardens, by Jeffrey Hou, Julie M. Johnson, and Laura J. Lawson, University of Washington Press with Landscape Architecture Foundation, 2009. (Available through MRSC Library Loan)
• Urban Agriculture: Growing Healthy, Sustainable Places, by Kimberley Hodgson, Marcia Caton Campbell, and Martin Bailkey (PAS 563), American Planning Association, 2010 (Available through MRSC Library Loan)