The Rock Island Planning and Zoning Commission held its second listening session regarding a proposed urban agricultural ordinance on Monday night, December 1st, at City Hall.
The commission and city staff are seeking public input on the ordinance, which would regulate urban gardens, chicken keeping, and other ag activities.
Rock Island resident Kathleen North shared her experience appealing a vegetation nuisance violation in her yard. North said the issue was not listed in the violation, and she struggled to understand where on her property it originated.
“Nor were there pictures that I could observe and figure out what part of my yard was being talked about, in addition to the threat of having the city come and abate a space in my yard that I had worked really hard on. Anyway, the point is, I'm a native English speaker. I had time to figure it out. My nuisance violation was resolved after I drove my vehicle down to city hall and handed in my appeal,” North said. “Within those seven days, I did some abatement on my own, and everyone was happy at the end. But not everyone will have the luxury of being able to navigate a nuisance violation if they believe it is wrongfully assigned to them. And that's where I think the system breaks down.”
Rock Island’s Planning and Zoning Manager Tanner Osing, who ran the discussion, says a clear process to address issues like rotting crops, overgrown weeds, or problematic animals could be handled by the commission, likening it to the commission’s approach to managing zoning variances and hearing appeals of zoning violations.
“So say somebody wanted to keep maybe a little more livestock on their property in southwest Rock Island than what is allowed or have smaller setbacks for a chicken keeping area,” Osing said. “They would be allowed to submit that request to staff. We would review it and then present it to the commission like you saw here tonight with the other cases, and they would make a decision on it.”
Before taking questions, Osing shared the progress in refining the ordinance’s impact.
“On occupied lots, things like gardening, chicken keeping, and beekeeping are allowed. So this would be, you know, your regular property with a house on it,” Osing said. “There would be no height or setback limits for garden areas. I know that was a point of concern in one of the initial drafts of this ordinance and that. So that's something we have proposed removing from the updated draft. On vacant lots, the ordinance would allow urban agriculture. Provided a five-foot buffer setback area is maintained along the perimeter of the property. No chicken or beekeeping would be allowed. This is the case now.”
Osing says composting, water tanks, and sheds would be allowed on these properties within specific parameters. He also shared regulations on prohibited properties, where urban agriculture would not be allowed on vacant, abandoned, or foreclosed properties.
Another Rock Island resident, Nina Struss, who was listening to the discussion, asked about the buffer zone and whether its necessity is to address pests.
“In practice, well maintained vegetable gardens are no more likely to attract pests than poorly maintained lawns, unkept flower beds, unsecured garbage bins, or fruit bearing ornamental trees and bushes. So I think, as you had mentioned, this issue is maintenance and responsible property stewardship and ensuring that we're talking with those who can better understand that,” Struss said. “I do believe that there is this need to have further connection with these communities who are one of the reasons why we're here, why this ordinance is in place, because they don't understand that the buckets that are out there that they're just trying to collect the water for is a health hazard. Right. So I would continue to reiterate what Kathleen says in having the city explore some sort of longer term option to really ensure that we're not just citing people and eventually citing them to the point where we kick them out and we have another vacant lot.”
Struss asked about the season-extending structures and why they needed to be regulated, seeing the ordinance as prohibiting year-round production. Osing responded to Struss, adding context from previous conversations with city staff.
“A note on the season extending structures. Part of that language is, you know, these are more temporary structures in nature and staff have experienced situations where the plastic is all tattered and flying off the structure,” Osing said. “So part of this was just to address those types of situations. Granted, there may be different ways to do that and that's something we're happy to workshop. I flagged it in the key takeaways. Ian Forsland mentioned it at the last listening session as well. So happy to get together maybe a group of folks to workshop that a little more in detail. If there's some alternative language we could come up with that would basically get at the heart of what the concern is there, if that makes sense.”
Rock Island First Ward Councilman Glen Evans Sr. attended the session and thanked city staff for bringing the conversation together.
“[S]ince we met the last time, I went through my ward and I found at least three properties that were abandoned that still was never cleaned up. They were just abandoned. And I'm sure that I can probably find even more,” Councilman Evans Sr. said. “So when we're talking about leaving the vegetation or leaving the stuff sitting there, sometimes we deal with a community that does not always stay here either. And so we've got to make sure that our neighbors understand that we care about them, too. And so that's really where we've been at as far as this. We're not trying to regulate what people do in their home gardens, but we also have a renovation project going on in the First Ward that some of those properties would be great to put houses back on. And so not that I'm trying to take them, but the reality is, if they're not going to maintain them, yes, I will fight to take them.”
The city is holding two more listening sessions this Thursday, December 4th, at 10 am and 5:30 pm in the council chambers, focusing on immigrant and refugee communities; however, both sessions are open to all.
The ordinance comes back to the Planning and Zoning Commission for a public hearing on Monday, January 5th.
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