Community people, I am very sorry to be sending this email on Friday night before a holiday weekend, but so it goes. The Planning Department is sending a new version of the Urban Agriculture to the Planning Commission hearing of July 6, Tuesday at 2:00pm. I did receive a copy of the proposed code yesterday evening but was too surprised by the changes to be able to make complete sentences. The most basic concerns of the Pittsburgh Poultry Association and Burghbees were heeded. This is good. Chickens: three chickens on a 2,000 square foot lot. No roosters. Bees: two hives on 2,000 square foot lot. Lots of very specific rules about placements of the hives. But they have gone back to allowing garage rooftops, at one point accessory structures were not allowed to be used for hives. Fees: No improvements. This is still expensive. We got nowhere with the fees. The application or the variance will be around $300. These fees are required when a building permit for something like a chicken coop is built. And announcements are displayed at the front of the property and letters are sent out to neighboring properties. Your fees pay for these services. What's missing: The no slaughter clause is gone, this is good for farming. There is no farming without slaughter. All rules about anything larger is gone. There are no rules about goats listed in this new proposed code. It is suspected, but not known, that enough was being dealt with regarding the chickens and bees, so the larger, less populous and more complicated farm animals were left behind. The original proposed language was pretty dreadful, incomplete and insensitive to the different species. I am looking forward to working for complete sensible language for urban farming sometime in the future. Please contact me with questions or concerns. Jana Thompson 1240 Resaca pl PGH 15212 412 237-9922 home