Urban Farming, The Backlash

Backlash in Kansas City:

snips:

A few neighbors want the city to yank out their business by its roots. Not near our backyards, say some, who fear their homes will be devalued by the small farm’s presence on Bannister Road, just east of the State Line.

The city says the couple is violating zoning laws.

Similar disputes are surfacing across the country, as more people want to grow their own food and buy what’s grown nearby.

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Phyllis Forbes, 80, has lived next door for 37 years. She says she didn’t complain to the city, but has been struggling to sell her home because “the property values have fallen ever since they started their commercial business.”

Her home, with five bedrooms and an indoor swimming pool, is in direct view of Bad Seed Farm. She said she didn’t have a problem with a backyard garden, but when it became more active, it was too much.

“I stopped entertaining guests there, until after dark so they wouldn’t have to stare at the piles of manure,” she says. “One neighbor, who lives 87 feet from their property, quit eating on their back porch because they couldn’t miss the goats pooping and the chickens eating the poop….

“I don’t know what the answer is, but the city is so confused on this. They need to make a decision.”

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This is indicative of a new political storm brewing, says Katherine Kelly, executive director at the Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture.

She and her group fear that Kansas City’s interpretation of zoning laws could squash the growing movement of urban gardeners and farmers across Kansas City. There are more than 50 urban farms around the area.