Benjamin Birdwell

Stories

Oklahoma City Council introduces rezoning for 10-acre urban farm

Rezoning approved; farm can continue crop cultivation and reopen its farm stand

The Oklahoma City Council voted unanimously on October 13 to rezone Ralph's Ranch, a 10-acre urban farm at 2209 NE 100th Street, from single-family residential to a dedicated agricultural zone. The change lets owner Benjamin Birdwell keep growing vegetables and flowers and reopen the farm stand.

Updated Oct 31

Notable Quotes

"What's on the table right now is a straight agricultural rezoning. It's basically taking it from R1, which is residential, to agricultural zoning, which technically makes the property less valuable, and you can do less on it, but one of the things that it does is allows us to grow row crops, and it allows a farm stand, so we can open up the farm again to the public."

from Oklahoma City Council introduces rezoning for 10-acre urban farm · Updated Oct 31

"It's not like I want to be a wedding venue or an event space. That is not my hope. What I want to do is farm, but to do that, I have to get creative."

from Oklahoma City Council introduces rezoning for 10-acre urban farm · Updated Oct 31

"The reality is what they've said is noise and parking, and I feel like we've solved both those problems to the best of our ability."

from Oklahoma City Council introduces rezoning for 10-acre urban farm · Updated Oct 31