The Challenge

Assembly Bill 551 (AB 551), California’s Urban Agricultural Incentive Zones (UAIZ) Act, provides tax incentives to landowners to transform vacant lots into small-scale agricultural plots. Major benefits of implementing AB 551 include: 

• Reduced number of food deserts across the City of Los Angeles. 
• Reduced transportation pollution from shipping produce. 
• Creation of new green spaces in previously vacant lots. 
• Expansion of local farming coupled with sustainable agriculture technologies. 

Thus, the implementation of AB 551 is crucial to ensure the City of L.A. meets its 2025 Sustainable City pLAn outcome to increase urban agriculture sites by 25%. The objective of this project is to research the adoption and implementation methods of other California cities and counties that have already adopted AB 551 to relay this information to LAFPC and to share the best implementation strategies for the City of L.A.  

Results

• Most of the other cities that have implemented AB 551 have done so via ordinance, in two steps: 
  (1) The creation of an Urban Agricultural Incentive Zone pursuant to AB 551. 
  (2) The implementation of an urban agriculture ordinance that modifies some existing provisions of the City Code. 
• AB 551 increases popularity in innovative urban farming techniques that reduce water and soil needs for agricultural production. For instance, companies such as Local Roots and Tower Garden have designed aeroponic farming methods that can be placed on rooftops or in warehouses – which requires no soil, less water and less land than traditional farming methods. 

Deliverable and Impact

Liegler’s research product was sent to the LAFPC, which then used the information to advise the L.A. City Council on an ordinance amending Sections 12.03 of the L.A. Municipal Code. This ordinance went through its first public hearing in September 2016 and a final hearing in June 2017. The ordinance finally became effective as of August 2017. Currently, the UAIZ is being implemented in the City of L.A. and unincorporated cities in L.A. County.