Cleveland's chickens and bees

Read this good article on how the urban farming situation in Cleveland is developing as a result of last year's famed legislation.

Brown says that in the first year of the “chicken and bee” ordinance in 2009, there were 14 applications for permits or licenses, mainly for backyard chicken coops, and only two complaints ...– both regarding the keeping of pigs, and none about chickens or bees.

Also keep in mind the similarities (writ small) that Muncie has with the "rust belt" cities of Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, each of which are advancing strong urban gardening/farming programs that make use of increasing available space.

Like other cities, notably Detroit, confronted with rampant home foreclosures and vacant parcels, hundreds of acres of urban land are lying fallow. In the 77-square-mile area within city limits, there are currently 18,000 vacant lots totaling 3,500 acres. While the primary goal is neighborhood redevelopment – including an emphasis on arts and entertainment and building on anchor institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic and universities—the city has also launched several initiatives to try to encourage activity despite dwindling population and stalled private-sector activity.

Among them: stabilizing vacant lots with urban gardens and native plantings, demolition of structures while maintaining foundations to allow the construction of greenhouses, allowing sideyard expansion, and using vacant lots for geo-thermal wells to heat neighboring structures. But perhaps the most interesting effort is re-writing zoning to allow urban farming—dramatically reducing setback requirements for chicken coops and beehives on empty parcels, and clarifying the process for allowing such uses.

Sectors of Muncie are already thinking along these lines, including community groups like North Street Urban Garden, Urban Light Community Church, Muncie Delaware Clean and Beautiful, Department of Stormwater Management, and others, but we still have a long way to go.