In early October, our urban ag ordinance was filed with Jacksonville’s City Council. On October 13th, I stood before the Council to say: I am here tonight to support Bill 2026-0807 —Pathways for Urban Ag, formerly the Free to Garden Act. First, I want to thank Councilmen Arias and Peluso for introducing this legislation; Councilwoman Pittman for years of support; and Councilman White for calling this “common sense” legislation. I also want to thank the Mayor’s office and Planning Department for the summer re-write. We are getting really close to making market and community gardens permissible by right here in Jacksonville. However , to make this ordinance truly work as intended, we need a few critical amendments. As currently written , any gathering on a market garden over five people is defined as a "market day" and capped at 12 per year, anchored to the city’s garage sale limit. This rule penalizes the very neighbors it seeks to protect as I’ll explain. Furthermore, stri...