Regulating Artisanal Food Production

by Lisa Steiner, AICP

In the last five years or so, many cities and counties all over the country have been updating their zoning codes to allow for more “maker” uses, including artisanal food production. If they haven’t updated their zoning code, they’ve probably needed several zoning interpretations as businesses have tried to open in their community. Also, many recent comprehensive plans have established policies to support these types of uses, which sets the stage for future code amendments as the plan is implemented.

The rise in these types of businesses has been following general trends in manufacturing and specialty foods, as the number of sole-proprietor manufacturing operations increases and the demand for specialty foods goes up. However, these businesses often run into significant regulatory barriers in the cities or counties in which they are attempting to locate. There are many layers of regulation for food-related businesses, from licensing requirements to Food and Drug Administration rules. In addition, the zoning codes of most jurisdictions do not recognize the different scales of food production and for this reason, it is often difficult for these businesses to find properties that can allow food production in areas outside of intensive industrial or manufacturing districts. This is especially challenging because most of these new businesses want to locate in active commercial or transitioning industrial areas.

What is Artisanal Food?
What exactly qualifies as “artisanal” food? The term “artisan” has been used (or perhaps over-used) as a marketing tool for many years. But truly artisanal food is generally understood as high-quality, distinctive products made in small batches or quantities. Typically, the food is locally sourced or comes from traceable regions, and is manufactured by hand or with traditional methods. In essence, it is the opposite of mass production. These food products are often distributed through farmers’ markets, restaurants, or sold directly to consumers. The most common types of artisanal food include breads, cheeses, sweets, or canned goods.

Best Practices

Do you want to make it easier for these types of businesses to locate in your community? One way to support artisanal food production is to update your zoning code. Zoning regulations should recognize the varying scales of food production, but many outdated codes do not see any difference between a small local company making honey and a large corporate food producer. You can update your code to acknowledge this difference in scale and allow the smaller-scale, less impactful artisanal food production in more areas of your community. But what should you be thinking about when crafting regulations like this? Look to some of the cities that have successfully adopted zoning amendments to allow artisanal food production in recent years:

Indianapolis
Indianapolis included new uses called “artisan food and beverage” and “artisan manufacturing” when they completed a full zoning and subdivision ordinance update in 2014. These uses are permitted in most of their downtown, commercial, and mixed use districts; this is many more areas of the city than food production was previously allowed. Here is a link to Indianapolis’ code to learn more.

Nashville
Nashville completed a zoning code amendment that stemmed from comprehensive plan guidance to streamline tools to support “maker” businesses and encourage the enhancement of creative neighborhoods. A new use called “artisan manufacturing,” which includes food production as well as many other “maker” uses, was added to their zoning code. This use is permitted with conditions in most of their mixed use, commercial, and industrial districts. Find Nashville’s code here.

San Diego
Artisanal food production was also the subject of a zoning code amendment in San Diego. Small “artisan food and beverage producers,” that are less than 20,000 square feet in size are now permitted in their commercial districts. Some use limitations on storage screening, hours of operation, hours of shipping and receiving were also adopted. San Diego’s code can be found here.

Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City completed a zoning code amendment to address the different scales of food production. They created two new uses, “artisan food production” and “commercial food preparation,” to allow for single and multiple producers respectively. These uses are permitted in most mixed use, commercial, transit station, and industrial districts of the city. The artisan food production uses are limited to only 2,500 square feet in size in their less intense zoning districts. Additionally, Salt Lake City requires producers to incorporate accessory retail when they are located in a mixed use, commercial, or low-intensity industrial district. Salt Lake City’s code is located here for more details.

Things to Consider

Updating your zoning code can help reduce some of the regulatory barriers for these types of businesses. Permitting artisanal food production can help support small businesses, activate buildings and areas of your city, and help cultivate your city’s identity. Learning from the best practices above, we suggest considering the following items as you revise your code to allow artisanal food production:

• First, we recommend creating a new use type for artisanal food production, permitting it in most of your mixed use, commercial, and industrial districts. You could also adapt an existing use type as well.
• Establish a limitation on the size to ensure that it is kept at a small scale and reduce potential for any negative impacts.
• Consider requiring a retail component in zoning districts that are guided for activity and pedestrian-friendliness, but don’t require retail in other areas.
• Parking requirements should be similar to retail or restaurant uses, or perhaps slightly smaller. Think about removing the production and storage areas from the parking calculation as that can skew the numbers unfavorably and reduce opportunities for adaptive reuse of existing buildings.
• Finally, consider adopting another use like “artisan manufacturing” to allow for other types of “maker” businesses. These may be permitted in different districts with different standards than the food-specific use.