Detroit's proposed urban farms face hurdles

By JOHN GALLAGHER
Free Press Business Writer

To farm or not to farm? That's Detroit's question.

A city already filled with tiny community gardens so far has balked at allowing larger-scale commercial farming inside the city. Several such farm projects have been proposed for more than a year, but as 2010 winds down, they still await city approval.

Some of the would-be urban growers are letting their frustration show.

"There's always another layer of the onion we have to peel, and quite honestly I don't understand it," said Gary Wozniak, director of the proposed RecoveryPark project, which would initially farm about 20 acres on Detroit's east side. "Every time they overcome another hurdle, there's another hurdle."

Dan Lijana, a spokesman for Mayor Dave Bing, said urban agriculture is just one of many ideas the city is weighing as part of Bing's Detroit Works plan to reinvent the city.

"Mayor Bing continues to be receptive to all ideas for economic development, including commercial urban farming," Lijana said. "While no announcement is imminent, conversations and progress continue."
Detroit commercial urban farms unlikely to get off the ground until at least spring 2011

As last spring's growing season began, 2010 looked like the year when Detroiters would undertake bold experiments in large-scale commercial urban agriculture in the city.

But as 2010's growing season ends, not one of four such projects on the table last spring has broken ground yet.

Some of the projects now hope to get in the ground next spring, but even that is uncertain. City of Detroit officials are struggling to understand the implications of urban agriculture within city limits. Among the concerns holding up approval are worries about noise and pollution, a lack of zoning for growing food in the city, and questions over who benefits from any economic gain.

Gary Wozniak, project director of RecoveryPark, a nonprofit venture that hopes to begin large-scale farming on Detroit's east side soon, is frustrated by the delays in winning approval for his project.

"I think the problem is the city doesn't want to make a decision, quite honestly," Wozniak said this month. "Every time we think we've reached a certain plateau, we get another excuse.... We should be taking risks. We should be looking at this as opportunities."

Dan Lijana, a spokesman for Mayor Dave Bing, said the city will not be rushed as it considers projects like RecoveryPark.

RecoveryPark would initially farm about 20 acres near Warren and Chene on the east side, on vacant land owned by Detroit Public Schools. But the project still needs approval from the city, and city approval is not yet forthcoming.

Meanwhile, Detroit businessman John Hantz had proposed his Hantz Farms project in early 2009, hoping to farm some 2,000 acres of vacant city-owned land. As of this fall, he was reportedly going to get about 100 acres of city-owned vacant land on the east side near the Indian Village district to begin commercial farming.

But with Bing's ambitious Detroit Works project to rethink the city still in its early stages, no decision is expected now on Hantz's proposal until next spring at the earliest. A spokeswoman for Hantz declined to comment.

In another project, New York City activist Majora Carter had sought a Kresge Foundation grant to establish a farmers cooperative in Detroit that would produce jobs and revenue for the city. But Kresge turned down her application pending some decision from the Bing administration on commercial farming.

In a fourth project, the nonprofit Greening of Detroit has purchased 2.5 acres near Eastern Market to operate a farm and training facility to teach community gardeners how to turn their small, local farms into revenue generators. But bureaucratic delays at various levels have delayed groundbreaking from this year to next.

Dan Carmody, president of the nonprofit Eastern Market Corp., supports a more localized food system, but he said some delays are understandable, given the complexities of the issues.

"It's a new kind of industry, and there are some growing pains associated with it," Carmody said.

Wozniak is project director for a drug rehabilitation agency called SHAR that is undertaking RecoveryPark. The project would put recovering addicts and other distressed individuals to work growing crops and processing food.

In a city with an estimated 40 square miles of vacant land, Wozniak said, the city ought to be willing to experiment with a relatively small project like RecoveryPark.

"Everybody's doing all these projects in other cities," Wozniak said. "They're all looking at Detroit. They're all looking for us for the ideas we're going to create, and we're not creating any."

Small-scale, volunteer community gardens already exist all over Detroit. But city officials cite various issues that need to be overcome before they can approve larger-scale commercial farming in the city.

For one thing, there still is no zoning classification for growing food inside the city. Officials also are worried that Michigan's Right to Farm law, which protects rural farmers against the encroachments of suburban sprawl, might be used by businessmen like Hantz to avoid regulation by the city after initial approval is given.

Then, too, many of Detroit's nonprofit community gardeners are urging the city to reject Hantz's proposal, viewing for-profit farming in the city as exploitation and a land grab. Critics worry that ordinary citizens won't benefit if profits go mainly to wealthy business owners.

Whatever the reasons, the delays are leaving Wozniak and others frustrated.

"We've asked the city for no money, no tax breaks, no resources other than access to land," he said. "And we don't care if we buy it, lease it, if it's deeded to us, if it's in a trust. Let us try something."