Planning Studio Wins Award of Merit from APA

The Local Foods Zoning Senior Studio received the award in the Best Practices category for their project, Local Food Zoning Code.

Planning Studio Wins Award of Merit from APA

Students from Kyle Ezell’s Local Foods Zoning Senior Studio in City and Regional Planning were awarded the 2022 American Planning Association County Planning Division/National Association of County Planners Award of Merit for a Best Practice for their project Local Food Zoning Code: Recommendations for Implementation of the Local Food Action Plan.

Awarded by the American Planning Association County Planning Division and its sister organization, the National Association of County Planners, the honor recognized the partnership between the seniors and Franklin County’s Economic Development & Planning Department. The report provides evidence-based recommendations for an ongoing local urban agriculture zoning code implementation team and developed ways to increase access to fresh foods in Franklin County and the City of Columbus.

Fifteen seniors in Ohio State’s City and Regional Planning BSCRP program produced an evidence-based hybrid zoning code complete with form-based visuals, complete with permitted/ conditional/prohibited land use tables. Through an extensive first month of research, gaining knowledge from local and national experts who visited the class, students identified and developed best practice case studies that led to the production of a quality hybrid zoning code document.

The students’ work in this document will inform the ongoing Local Food Action Plan zoning recommendations project and be included as appendices in the final report expected to be published in summer 2022.

Contributors

Micah Adams, Hailey Anilonis, Letitia Cetina, Ben Dalton, Alyssa Graziano, Arielle Hall, Matthew Humes, Michael Johnson, Samantha Lehr, Anneliese McClurg, Alexa Reynoso, Spencer Smith, Hanfei Sun, Joey Warnkin, and Austin Workman.

Teacher Assistant/Project Manager: Prince Kwarteng Crooklynn

Franklin County Partner Lead: Brian Estabrook, Food Systems Planner

 

View a PDF of Local Food Zoning Code: Recommendations for Implementation of the Local Food Action Plan

Press Release

For Immediate Release

Contact Tim Brown at 850-267-1955 with any questions.

Each year the American Planning Association (APA), County Planning Division (CPD) and its sister organization, the National Association of County Planners (NACP) gives out County Planning Project Awards.  There are two types of awards, Awards of Excellence and Awards of Merit.  In addition, there are seven categories of awards: Planning Project, Comprehensive Plan – Large Jurisdiction, Comprehensive Plan – Small Jurisdiction, Best Practices, Grass Roots Initiative, Small Area/Special Area Planning, and Special Focus Planning Initiative – County Holistic Innovation Project.  Only one Award of Excellence and one Award of Merit may be granted per category each year.  If the Awards Jury finds that none of the nominations in a particular category meets the desirable standards, they may grant no award in that category for that year. 

This year, Franklin County and the Ohio State University City & Regional Planning Studio are the recipients of an Award of Merit in the Best Practices category for the Local Food Zoning Code: Recommendations for Implementation of the Local Food Action Plan. Franklin County’s Economic Development & Planning Department entered into an innovative practice/academy partnership with the Ohio State University’s City & Regional Planning Studio to identify robust recommendations for the County’s ongoing zoning recommendations project and benefit from the creative expertise of the Ohio State University students.  Franklin County’s Food Systems Planner Brian Estabrook worked closely with the CRP students during the Autumn 2021 term. Together, they built a strong baseline of food system and urban agriculture knowledge and how their work could benefit Columbus’ and Franklin County’s Local Food Action Plan implementation.  The seniors in OSU’s city and regional planning program produced an evidence-based hybrid zoning code complete with form-based visuals, complete with permitted/conditional/prohibited land use tables.  Through an extensive first month of research, gaining knowledge from local and national experts who visited the class, students identified and developed best practice case studies that led to the production of a quality hybrid zoning code document.  A cohesive, hardworking culture made it possible to complete this ambitious project in one academic term.  The students engaged with experts on food systems planning, community-based research, equity, and civic engagement, national food planning trends, Ohio’s legal, regulatory regime for agriculture, urban agriculture operations, and municipal/jurisdictional fragmentation.  All parties benefited from the focus group participation of planning and zoning staff from eight Franklin County municipalities.  Planning for this partnership began in Summer 2021 and continues in a highly productive, remarkable team where this baseline work drives Franklin County’s implementation efforts.  Unusually, the document contains 100% student work directed by the Local Food Action Plan team lead by the Franklin County Economic Development & Planning Department.