New York passes bills to facilitate the building of rooftop greenhouses and free up land for urban gardens

McDonald’s Rooftop Gardens. Graphic by Demian Repucci on OpenIDEO.

Grow Local and Eat Local, City Council Says

By Sydney Ember
New York Times
July 29, 2011

Excerpt:

In an effort to ramp up support for the consumption and production of local food, the City Council passed a package of bills on Thursday to facilitate the building of rooftop greenhouses and free up land for urban gardens.

Under the legislation, a building’s rooftop greenhouse would not be considered an additional story by the Department of Buildings, and would be exempt from height limits, if it occupies less than one-third of the rooftop. The city would also begin compiling a database of property that it owns or leases so that it can better identify unused spaces to be turned into urban gardens.

In addition, one of the bills would encourage city facilities like senior centers, jails and shelters to purchase more local food by requiring them to monitor where their food comes from.

The bills now go to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s desk, where similar food initiatives have found success in the past.

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