Brothers and co-directors of Matthew 25, Courtney Ball (left) and Clint Twedt-Ball, walk down G Avenue NW as they discuss their proposed Ellis Urban Village in the Time Check neighborhood. Taken on Wednesday , June 8, 2011. (Cliff Jette/SourceMedia Group)

CEDAR RAPIDS — Neighborhood-building group Matthew 25’s plan to create an urban farm in a four-block piece of the Time Check neighborhood got a boost from the City Council on two fronts last night.

First, council members voted to amend the zoning ordinance to allow urban agriculture by permit in every zoning district in the city. Matt Mayer, a Matthew 25 representative, said he thought the vote made Cedar Rapids the first city in Iowa to find room in its zoning ordinance for urban farming.

The council also directed the city manager to negotiate a development agreement with Matthew 25 for the lease and possible future sale of 13 properties for the urban farm, which will be established on mostly undevelopable land acquired by the city in its flood recovery buyout program.

The City Council in August sought redevelopment proposals for the properties, in a four-block area between Ellis Boulevard and Fourth Street NW and F and H Avenues NW, and only Matthew 25 submitted one.

The non-profit neighborhood group’s Ellis Urban Village plan calls for it to renovate some flood-damaged houses at the site, build some new ones and use about two acres of flood-prone vacant land to plant produce.

The proposal also includes a plan to convert two flood-damaged school warehouses on G Avenue NW into apartments, classrooms, community rooms and offices. The Cedar Rapids school district is slated to evaluate redevelopment proposals for the buildings in the weeks ahead.

Matthew 25 intends to grow and sell fresh produce at below-market rates largely to the surrounding neighborhood, which is classified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a “food desert” in terms of its proximity to retail grocery stores.

Group members also plan to teach youngsters in the neighborhood to grow the food.

The City Planning Commission earlier approved allowing urban agriculture in Cedar Rapids.

Urban farming encompasses more than the typical garden, Brad Larson, a planner in the city’s Community Development Department, explained to the council last night. He said it can allow a person to grow produce for commercial sale and allows land on which there is not a residence to be used for farming.

Larson said the ordinance will limit the farms to growing produce and will prohibit the raising of livestock or, for instance, keeping bees. The raising of a limited number of chickens would be allowed under Cedar Rapids’ urban chicken ordinance, he said.

Matthew 25 has said the Ellis Urban Farm will not feature big tractors or nitrogen fertilizer tanks. The plan is for “small-plot intensive farming” that is part of urban neighborhoods across the country, the group has said.