Want to farm in downtown Rock Hill? How city growth could take a new direction

There’s growing a city, then there’s a growing city.

As Rock Hill works through decisions to annex more than 200 acres, there’s also new opportunity for people in more places who want to grow their own produce. Leah Youngblood, city planning and development director, outlined recent and proposed changes to the Rock Hill City Council.

Council gave preliminary approval to the proposed changes. Final votes will follow.

Younblood said recent work created a place for farming through a rural zoning district. It allows a wide variety of animals. Allowances for agritourism at family farms is another recent addition. There are land use details still to work out, even in rural settings.

“We’re proposing to limit the really heavy, industrial type farming — factory farms you might think of, slaughterhouses, that type of thing — only in industrial zoning districts,” Youngblood said.

There’s also demand, Youngblood said, for more of an urban farming setup. More based on farm produce set in areas near homes or restaurants.

The city has a proposal where family farms at fewer than 10 acres would be allowed by city staff review in most commercial and industrial areas. Animals would be limited to bees and chickens — no roosters given the noise — and the likely focus would be organic produce.

The federally designated family farm definition is key.

“Basically your family members and you are running this farm,” Youngblood said. “So it inherently limits the scale of it. You can’t have a hired manager.”

Youngblood offered examples from Charleston, Columbia and Canada for the types of farm uses the city would allow. Many animals, from chickens and bees to horses or more unusual ones, are already kept in Rock Hill. The aim of recent and proposed changes is both to make farming fit in the right places and allow for growing demand.

Today, community gardens are allowed as the main use of a property or as a side use to a neighborhood or the like.

“This would expand the zoning districts where they’re allowed and then also modify the standards to some extent to make them more affordable,” Younblood said.

Today, farmers markets like the Old Town Farmers Market are limited to a temporary use at 90 days per year at a given site. Changes could allow year-round setups as the primary use of a property. Greenhouses would be allowed. Youngblood showed a setup from Greenville, and said there are several others statewide.

Farmers markets would need paved parking, but other seemingly small changes could lead to future farmers market site development. One, for instance, would state restrooms aren’t required if there’s a public one close.

“The entire intent of this would be to allow potentially an under-utilized piece of property downtown to be used for this type of use if there’s a restroom within walking distance at one of our community parks,” Youngblood said.

The city planning commission would still review food truck usage at sites. Alcohol could potentially be sold, but not for consumption on-site at a farmers market.

Produce stands are allowed now as a temporary use, at up to 180 days per year. A new proposal would allow them year-round if used with a community garden, urban farm or rural farm. Some produce stands in other parts of the state are larger in scale, Youngblood said, to potentially include a restaurant.

Backyard gardens or kitchen gardens for restaurants would be allowed in Rock Hill. Same with educational gardens set up for schools. The new definitions would outline those and similar uses.

There’s even a place for pot-bellied pigs. City rules now don’t allow swine, but don’t specify types. Changes would allow for pet pot-bellies on acre or more residential properties.

Among other land use decisions council faced from storage and business sites along Celanese Road to city use of former Carolina Panthers headquarters site entrances, was a zoning for more than 93 acres near Mt. Gallant Elementary School and Dutchman Creek Middle School. There, Catawba River Investments eyes the sale of large residential lots that could, Youngblood said, fit with the type of farm uses in consideration by the city.

Council gave initial approval to annexation and rezoning requests, in addition to the farm use proposals. Final approval would come at a later meeting.