Somerville, MA Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Section 9.2.13.a defines Farming as 'the cultivation of soil for the production, planting, caring for, treating, growing, and harvesting of any aquacultural, horticultural, hydrocultural commodities,' broken into three specific uses. Commercial Farming (§9.2.13.a.i) is farming to sell produce for a profit; it may be conducted outdoors, in a greenhouse, or on a rooftop, but sales must comply with local, state and federal law. Community Farming (§9.2.13.a.ii) is the identical activity run by a non-profit agency intending to sell produce. Community Gardening (§9.2.13.b) covers growing plants for display, enjoyment, or private and personal consumption, and expressly bars on-site sales, processing or storage of the harvest.

Table 3.1.16, the NR district's permitted-use table, marks Commercial Farming 'N' in its general-use column, meaning it cannot be established as a stand-alone use on an ordinary NR lot; it is marked 'P' only in the table's second column, which governs adaptive re-use of a pre-existing commercial building. Community Farming and Community Gardening are both marked 'P' in the general-use column, so a household or nonprofit may run either by right, without a special permit. Article 9's citywide default backs this structure: use categories not listed on the master use table (Table 9.1.1) are prohibited outright. Where a use needs board review, such as Commercial Farming through the adaptive-reuse path, it proceeds through the Special Permit process at §15.2.1, where the review board weighs compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood before approving or denying it.