This Kansas gardener sued to sell fruit and honey; Now her town will allow urban farming
September 26, 2023 | Celia Llopis-Jepsen
Editor’s note: The following story was published by KCUR, Kansas City’s NPR member station, and a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for KCUR’s email newsletter.
Ottawa city officials are trying to strike a balance between people who want to produce food and the interests of their neighbors
OTTAWA, Kansas — Ottawa will now allow small-scale urban agriculture — a move designed to accommodate residents who want to raise chickens and to resolve a homeowner’s lawsuit over the right to sell fruit and honey.
City lawyer Blaine Finch said the goal is to let residents produce food in their yards without impinging on the welfare of their neighbors.
“Frankly, agriculture is one of the original activities in this area,” Finch told city commissioners at a recent meeting. “The city hall is built on the site of Tauy Jones’ wild berry patch … It’s as old as the community, if not older.”
The rules allow small-scale farming in neighborhoods, as long as it doesn’t create nuisances like bad odors or lots of customers visiting residential streets.
The change is a victory for Ellen Finnerty, a fruit gardener and aspiring beekeeper who sued the city earlier this year.
RELATED: Kansas gardener sues for the right to sell honey and fruit from her Ottawa yard
She had been working on a backyard orchard for a few years and taking community college classes on beekeeping. Her goal is to sell fruit and honey at a local farmer’s market.
But Ottawa’s codes didn’t allow that. The rules banned people from running home businesses that involve animals. They also appeared to prohibit so much as selling a tomato grown in your backyard.
Not anymore.
The commission voted last week in favor of a suite of codes that acknowledge urban agriculture and set rules for it.
The new rules allow people to keep hens for egg-laying. They also set guidelines for beekeeping.
And the rules distinguish urban farming from other kinds of animal-related work. That means it will now be legal to take homegrown honey and eggs to the farmer’s market.
Some other kinds of animal businesses, such as at-home dog kennels, remain banned.
Finnerty was scared that the city’s previous rules put her at risk of fines or jail. She challenged the rules with representation from the Kansas Justice Institute — the legal arm of the Kansas Policy Institute, a small-government think tank.
Her lawyer argued the city’s rules violated the Kansas Constitution, which guarantees the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Ottawa’s lawyer asked the judge in a filing to throw out Finnerty’s case. But the filing also signaled city officials were open to changing the codes. It said officials were already working to address public requests to allow chicken coops.
The city entered talks with the Kansas Justice Institute to resolve her lawsuit.
Now that the commission has approved urban farming codes, the institute put out a press release calling the change a victory.
“The city, to its great credit, understood there wasn’t a good reason to prevent Ellen from starting her home-based business,” said Sam MacRoberts, the group’s litigation director.
Advocates for buying and growing food locally say that urban farming can provide fresh food with fewer transportation costs and carbon dioxide emissions.
Some cities are tweaking their rules to accommodate that.
Lawrence changed its codes in 2016 to loosen rules for residential crops and allow beekeeping and sales of honey and other homegrown foods. Indiana, meanwhile, struck down all municipal beekeeping bans in 2019.
Celia Llopis-Jepsen is the environment reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter @celia_LJ or email her at celia@kcur.org
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy.
2023 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Councilman introduces east side investment proposal with $15/hour wage provision
As economic development surges in pockets across Kansas City, residents and businesses on the east side shouldn’t be left behind, Scott Taylor said. “Our clock is ticking as a city on this, and we need to do more,” said Taylor, councilman for the sixth district, at-large. At a press conference Thursday, Taylor introduced a draft…
KCPS superintendent to city struggling with violence: When do we all come together?
It’s inexcusable for Kansas City to simply accept 130 murders before it’s even December, Mark Bedell said. “Who do you think are committing these crimes?” Bedell, superintendent of Kansas City Public Schools, asked a crowd gathered Thursday for the Lean Lab’s Launch[ED) Day. “Probably people who have been victims of schools that have failed them…
Kauffman Foundation rolls out $1.2M microlending program to help underserved entrepreneurs
Amid a swarm of 160 events as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation announced a new microlending program to spur investment in underserved entrepreneurs. In partnership with four microfinance lenders, the foundation issued a series of grants totaling $1.2 million that a will change the way the nonprofit microlenders capitalize their…
Scared away from networking events? Anti-social introverts can turn to tech
Networking strength comes in numbers — even for anti-social introverts, Jeremy A. Smith told a crowd Tuesday at Global Entrepreneurship Week. “Anti-social people, myself included, hate events,” he said. But like all other entrepreneurs, such introverts still must build and maintain actionable professional networks from which they can request and receive value, Smith said. In-person networking…