Planning for Healthy Places, in collaboration with the National Policy & Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity (NPLAN), has developed several model policies that complement the material in our toolkits. These model policy "packages" explain why land use policies are important for supporting and protecting community gardens and farmers' markets, and provide model general plan and zoning language to encourage these uses. The language is designed to be tailored to meet individual communities’ needs.

Establishing Land Use Protections for Community Gardens includes the following:

• Introduction
• Model Comprehensive Plan Language to Protect and Expand Community Gardens
• Model Zoning Language Establishing Community Gardens as an Approved Use
• Community Garden Policy Language Only (MS Word .doc - for easy editing of model policy text)

Note that these model policies are provided as recommendations, based on best practices from communities around the country. Public health advocates and community groups are encouraged to work with their planning department and city attorney to identify where within its existing codes and policies the ordinances would best fit, make other amendments as necessary for consistency, and follow the appropriate procedures for amending general plans and zoning law.

• You can also download the National Policy and Legal Analysis Network's Establishing Protections for Community Gardens: A Fact Sheet for Advocates.