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Updated: December 29, 2022 @ 7:41 am
Staff Reporter
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — After nearly a year of community meetings and planning, the Alpharetta City Council has approved a comprehensive plan to guide and encourage agricultural development in the city over the next five years.
The plan was unanimously approved at the city council’s Dec. 12 meeting, making Alpharetta the second Metro Atlanta community to adopt an agricultural plan through the Atlanta Regional Commission and Food Well Alliance.
City leaders and hundreds of residents held six meetings between March and April to generate ideas and create the plan, which includes four main priorities, supporting local growers, cultivating a sense of place, sustainable stewardship and city initiatives and partnerships.
“The community worked hard, alongside Food Well Alliance, the ARC and city staff, to get to the point where we have an official plan in place for our agriculture program. We look forward to implementing the Plan and bringing the great ideas the community brought forth to life in our parks, streetscapes, and developments,” Director of Recreation, Parks & Cultural Services Morgan Rodgers said. “We like to have fun in Alpharetta, and it’s fun to grow in ways that will benefit the community well into the future.”
The plan includes short, medium and long-term recommendations that are expected to be implemented over the next five years.
Recommendations include items like creating a Home Growers’ Cooperative, expanding farmers market partnerships, creation of community garden space in parks, establishment of a community seed library and tool bank and supporting existing local farms.
With these initiatives, community stakeholders believe they can strengthen the relationships between local food producers, distributors and consumers, and increase access to healthy food in the local community.
“Residents made it clear over the past year that they are passionate about growing, sharing, and supporting local food,” Food Well Alliance Policy and Planning Manager Sarah Brown said. “This plan will integrate those priorities into to Alpharetta’s existing policies, programs and future development.”
Alpharetta has been awarded a $75,000 grant to kickstart the plan, Rodgers said.
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Reach Alexander Popp at 770-847-7404. Follow him on Twitter @Popp2Alex.
Staff Reporter
Alex Popp is a reporter on staff at Appen Media and a graduate of the University of North Georgia. To share tips and questions, reach Alex via email at alex@appenmedia.com or by phone at 770-847-7404.
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Alpharetta adopts agriculture development plan | Alpharetta and … – Alpharetta-Roswell Herald
