Auburn delays implementation of regional food plan | Lewiston Sun Journal - The Bethel Citizen

A bumblebee is doing its part in helping the Webster Street Community Garden in Auburn between rain showers Thursday morning. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

AUBURN — The City Council tabled discussion on a regional food plan this week after several councilors said it did not include enough information about Auburn.

Titled “Local Foods, Local Places” it aims to strengthen access to local food, expand market opportunities and infrastructure for farm and food businesses, and integrate local food and agriculture into city planning and economic development strategies, among other goals.

It was developed through St. Mary’s Nutrition Center, with assistance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees the program.

The council was set to adopt the plan Monday, but ultimately tabled it for three months by a 4-2 vote. At least two councilors argued the 100-plus-page document is too Lewiston-focused, and said delaying its adoption could allow the city to initiate changes.

However, those who supported the plan said it was developed using a community-driven process featuring a two-day workshop attended by dozens of people from across both cities, including Auburn city and school staff.

City Manager Phil Crowell confirmed Monday that staff had taken part in the development of the plan, and that it was regionally-focused.

Councilors Belinda Gerry, Leroy Walker, Stephen Milks and Brian Carrier voted to table.

Councilors Walker and Gerry said the newly-formed Agriculture Committee should dig into the details of the plan before the council officially adopts it, and that the council shouldn’t immediately implement plans formulated by “outside groups.”

But according to a City Council memo, the Agriculture Committee “strongly” recommends adopting the plan, and has already suggested that the council “divert staff attention and city funding to support the goals within the plan.”

Just before the vote to table, the council unanimously supported a list of goals for the Agriculture Committee that Councilor Katie Boss said were “very much in line” with the goals of the local food plan.

“I don’t understand the value of not supporting what was a community-engaged process, with Auburn residents and city staff as part of those conversations,” she said.

Gerry, who had made an original motion to table it for six months, said she didn’t believe the council had “had enough time to digest this.”

“There’s not a lot of information from Auburn in this report,” Gerry said, suggesting that the committee propose additions that would “make it a more well-rounded document.”

Walker argued it prioritizes Lewiston, and that the plan will likely result in funding requests to purchase acreage in the region for agricultural purposes. He said he’d rather the council focus on Auburn.

He also took aim at St. Mary’s Nutrition Center.

“I don’t like the idea of us signing on to any more of this, with St. Mary’s Nutrition or any other thing, and we have to battle with them just to grow gardens in a couple spots in the city of Auburn,” he said. “I don’t want Auburn to give them the power they want.”

Boss took issue that fellow councilors didn’t want to support a document that was created for the broader region, as opposed to just Auburn, and said it would make the work of the Agriculture Committee “near impossible.”

“A food system goes beyond municipal boundaries,” she said. “In order to be effective we need to be thinking outside just our own boundaries.”

Boss also called Walker’s comments on St. Mary’s “a deeply disappointing mischaracterization of the work that St. Mary’s Nutrition Center does for the community,” and said the plan does not commit the city to any funding.

Julia Harper, a member of the plan’s Steering Committee and coordinator of the Good Food Council of Lewiston-Auburn, presented the plan to the City Council during a workshop May 18.

Harper said Thursday that implementation of the plan does not hinge on receiving council support, but that having an official endorsement from elected officials in Lewiston and Auburn is helpful to show broad community support for the work.

She said the plan can be used to leverage resources to support its goals and related local food and agriculture activities.

“It serves as a positive signal to the public, and potential funders, that a vibrant local food system is a priority and is often best achieved through collaboration and a wide range of strategies,” she said.

The Steering Committee was made up of staff from St. Mary’s Nutrition Center, Bates College in Lewiston and other local organizations, while the “technical assistance team” featured officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and more.

According to the memo, the two-day community workshop was held Oct. 22-23 last year, and was attended by more than 80 individuals “representing municipalities, business, and agricultural sectors from Auburn and Lewiston.”

The plan outlines sixteen “action steps” that work toward its broader goals, which also include building “food and agriculture as a defining brand for Lewiston-Auburn,” and increasing “equitable access, ownership, and preservation of land to grow food in Lewiston-Auburn.”

Boss, who was recently appointed chairwoman of the Agriculture Committee, said Thursday, “If we are unwilling to work with others to create improvements in our local food system, then we are necessarily choosing not to be successful in this important work. Now is not the time to politicize an effort that is seeking to strengthen Auburn’s resiliency at a critical time.”