@農자료창고

그러나 많은 캘리포니아주의 도시농업 종사자들처럼, Caitlyn Galloway 씨는 불확실성에 시달리고 있다. 그녀는 곧 팔리거나 개발될 수도 있는 토지에서 비싼 재산세를 회수하려는 소유자와 월세 계약을 맺고 있다. 

현재 캘리포니아주의 시군 등은 Galloway 씨와 같은 문제를 해결하는 데 도움이 되는 새로운 도구를 통해 도시 지역에서 지역사회 텃밭과 소규모 농장을 장려하려고 열심이다. 최근 Jerry Brown 주지사가 제정한 법안은 지방자치단체가 적어도 5년 동안 농사지은 3600평 미만의 토지에 대한 공시지가 —와 재산세— 를 낮출 수 있도록 했다. 

"도시농부들이 직면한 가장 큰 장애물의 하나는 토지를 보유하는 일이다"라고 32세의 Galloway 씨는 말한다. "그건 도시농업을 위한 큰 발걸음이다."

주의원 Phil Ting 씨(D-샌프란시스코)가 작성한 법안은 도시농업의 이익이 도시에 풍부하게 뒤섞이길 바라며 만들어졌다. 많은 대기자들이 기다리고 있는 지역사회 텃밭, 영양 실습교육을 제공하는 비영리단체, Galloway 씨 같은 소규모 도시농부들은 당국이 토지이용제한법을 바꾸면 뿌리를 내릴 것이다. 

문제는 자발성이다. 관심있는 도시들은 현재 "도시농업 진흥구역"을 만드는 방향으로 나아갈 수 있다. 군의 감독간들이 해지해야 한다. (군은 또한 직접적으로 자신의 구역을 만들 수 있다.)

이 법안은 만장일치로 상원을 통과하고, 의회에서 단 6표의 기권표만 나왔다. 유일한 반대는 캘리포니아 과세협회에서 나왔다. which cited potential for abuse by corporate property owners who might cut deals with local government. The bill was later amended to curtail lot size.

Local governments that opt in would feel most of the pain of lost property tax revenue, while the Senate Appropriations Committee estimated the general fund hit at "less than $1 million" in increased school aid annually.

Ting, a former San Francisco assessor, described it as "a subsidy with a very limited fiscal impact. We're trying to drive better land use for people who might have a parking lot or an empty lot they're waiting to develop."

For years, Ting had backed cutting-edge San Francisco policies that helped transform eyesore parcels, raising property values on entire blocks. The idea spread.

"We started to see a movement in cities all over California that have really decided they want to be growing their food," he said. "They want to have access to agricultural space."

The concept for the zones is a hybrid of the Wiliamson Act, which offers tax subsidies to owners of rural land maintained for agricultural purposes, and the Mills Act, under which cities may enter into contracts with private owners who receive subsidies in exchange for restoring and preserving historic buildings.

It was conceived by Nicholas Reed and Juan Carlos Cancino, Stanford Law School grads who helped launch the San Francisco Greenhouse Project, an effort to turn a lot dotted with 18 decrepit greenhouses in the Portola district into an urban agriculture showcase.

The pair also took an interest in Little City Gardens, helping Galloway with number crunching. Even if she could afford the million-dollar cost of the property she cultivates, property taxes could easily sink her. The property owner wrote a letter in support of the bill but his next steps are unclear.

They concluded that if the city wanted urban farms that didn't rely on public land, or heavy philanthropic support, "we need to see some change in the tax law that would recognize a different use — that this wasn't a residential or commercial use but an agricultural one," Cancino said.

They turned to Eli Zigas, food systems and urban agriculture program manager for SPUR, a San Francisco urban planning organization. Zigas is also a member of the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance — which ultimately became the bill's sponsor — and invited Ting to hear Cancino and Reed present their idea.

Support flowed in from organizations in Sacramento, Oakland, East Palo Alto and San Diego, as well as more than half a dozen in Los Angeles County.

"Land is a premium, particularly when you have empty parcels going for hundreds of thousands of dollars," said D'Artagnan Scorza, executive director of the Inglewood-based Social Justice Learning Initiative, who called the law a "huge market incentive for land owners who are not intending to do development."

Scorza's organization has already created 40 gardens in Los Angeles that donate the food they grow to needy families who live where supermarkets are scarce. They are predominantly located at schools or on other public land as well as in private yards. But the organization hopes to create a commercial farm that will create jobs while funding its educational efforts and food giveaways.

His next step is to lobby Los Angeles lawmakers to get onboard.

Elsewhere, Sacramento city officials supported the bill and have expressed interest in participating in the program, as has San Francisco Supervisor David Chiu, who is moving forward to seek local approval.

"We simply want to create the impetus and awareness for property owners that this is a viable and productive use of land," Chiu said. "This is an option many communities are excited about."