Seed money for urban gardens
San Diego plan would give tax breaks to convert blighted property into plots.
SAN DIEGO — More community gardens soon may start popping up across San Diego on blighted pieces of property.
Taking advantage of a new state law that aims to encourage urban farming and eating locally grown produce, city officials have said they plan to adopt an ordinance slashing property taxes on parcels converted into community gardens.
The law, which a City Council committee unanimously approved last week, is expected to increase the number of community gardens in San Diego beyond the roughly 30 now operating.
The gardens allow residents with little or no land to come together to grow and harvest fruits and vegetables on individual plots. More gardens are being created across the nation amid an emphasis on eating food grown nearby.
The state Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone Act went into effect in January 2014. Since then, Santa Clara County and the cities of San Francisco and Sacramento have adopted the incentives included in the law.
Doing so in San Diego could be particularly crucial to the city’s low-income areas, where access to fresh food is limited by the lack of quality markets and grocery stores.
“Many of us are used to having a Ralphs, Sprouts, Vons — or all three — in our area, but the fact is some of the people in our city do not,” said Joel Trambley, chairman of the San Diego Human Relations Commission.
Councilman Scott Sherman said the incentives also would spruce up neglected properties.
“I am excited to bring forward a program that will help incentivize the development of urban agriculture in all San Diego neighborhoods” and help transform blighted property, Sherman said.
In 2011, San Diego made it easier to create community gardens in the city by reducing the permit fees from $48,000 to zero.
Officials said they expected property tax losses from the new program to be minimal. The state, which reaps a larger share of property taxes, will suffer larger revenue losses.
Properties participating in the program will be assessed at $12,700 an acre — the typical value of irrigated cropland in California — instead of their current assessed values, which typically would be higher.
Property owners must agree to allow a community garden for at least five years, but if a development opportunity arose they could break the contract by paying back taxes and a processing fee.
To be eligible, properties must be at least one-tenth of an acre and not larger than 3 acres. Properties on land zoned as industrial may need a neighborhood use permit. The city’s law, which the full council is expected to adopt next month, wouldn’t change the zoning of any parcels or create any additional community gardens.
Because the county collects property taxes, the Board of Supervisors also must approve the program.