County council member Valerie Ervin (D-District 5) and the parks department think one local park is prime planting space for a community garden. But some think otherwise.
At a community meeting in South Silver Spring Thursday night, parks department guy David Vismara explained that a small field in Silver Spring Intermediate Park would be the spot for growing veggies in the downtown area. The sun-soaked patch of grass is smaller than a regulation-sized soccer field and can be divided into about 30 plots for planting, he said.
“In this climate, you can garden year round,” Vismara told about 30 people in attendance. “And if you’re growing year round, we don’t have to till the soil in the spring”
A lottery would be held to pass out the plots, with local urban farmers getting their shot at up to 80 percent of the land, Ben Stutz, a policy analyst for Ervin, spelled out. A golden ticket, plus $45 in annual fees, could have one rolling in the dirt for some organic growing by mid May, Vismara tacked on.
South Silver Spring residents at the meeting seemed to dig the idea. “Community gardening is one of the most rewarding experiences,” Jason Gedeik, a high-rise dweller, told his neighbors. “It brightens a neighborhood and brings it together.”
One resident of Eastern Village cohousing (whose name I didn’t catch — my bad) was also psyched for a community garden. “We’re trying to grow herbs on the roof, and it’s a challenge,” he said. “I’m glad to see Montgomery County is moving in that direction.”
But not everyone was happy about that park being converted into a clusterfarm. Nancy Nickell, an East Silver Spring resident, argued that the downtown area deserved more park land and shouldn’t sacrifice existing green space for the benefit of a few urban farmers.
“This area is used by the public and used by many people,” Nickell told those in attendance. “I’ve seen people doing yoga there. I’ve seen an equinox celebration there. All of that will be gone.”
Other East Silver Springers at the meeting suggested a sunny lawn in front of the third district police station on Sligo Avenue, plus a vacant lot on Bonifant Street near Fenton Street, as prime agricultural spaces. However, both bits of real estate weren’t under the guise of the parks department, council member Ervin said.
Besides, the county already has plans for those lots, Ervin added. The grassy knoll on Bonifant is to be a staging area for construction on downtown Silver Spring’s new library. And the police station is to be converted into something (Ervin didn’t say what) once the third district PD move into their new White Oak digs.
Silver Spring’s citizens advisory board gets a swing at this subject next Monday night.
Photo of a community garden in California courtesy of Flickr user Vicki Moore.
Update: Tweaked to identify Eastern Village, South Silver Spring, as a cohousing complex and not a co-op. — JD (Apr 1, 2009)
Update: The spelling of Nancy Nickell’s last name was corrected (two Ls, not one). — JD (Apr 2, 2009)
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Equinox celebrations???
Actually, the land is usually used for more vigorous activity. Frisbees, kite flying, just running around, both formal and informal soccer practice and softball practice, people set up volleyball and badminton nets and then take them with them. There is a wall that people bounce balls off of.
Always energetic, always well-behaved.
What about using Jessup Blair Park for a community garden? That park is dead- I don’t recall ever seeing anyone in that park. This might be a way to revitalize the park.
The last time I was by that park — on a sunny but fairly cold day — the park was being used by a fair number of adults and small children. It doesn’t seem reasonable to take park land that is well used by the general public and turn it into garden plots for only 30 people.
Community gardens are a good idea, but they should be put in areas that aren’t already well used for recreation. How about the triangle surrounded by the metro tracks, Takoma Avenue, and Albany Avenue?
In general I like the idea. I was way bummed when we moved to an apartment with no balcony and couldnt grow anything any more. Although it didn’t work that well anyway – who knew aephids lived in brick, i thought I was pretty safe from insects on the 12th floor – it was still nice to do.
I do safe peoples’ hesitation with the location though. DTSS is horrifically low on green space anyway. If the park is well used, maybe it’s a bad choice. Also, by google-maps’ count it’s a solid mile from downtown (calling the intersection of colesville and georgia the center of downtown – I think most residential is distributed evenly around that point). It’s not terrible, but to go 4 times a week to tend to a plot properly that’s a lot of walking. And driving to your urban garden plot seems more than a bit silly (not to mention purpose defeating). Within half a mile and my name would be in the lottery. Which I think is further argument for more, smaller, better distrubuted plots on smaller unused patches of land.
Also – I’ve seen other places that have these commit some percentage to local soup kitchens and things like that. I’d like to see some percentage of “giving gardens” as they call them. Or perhaps on a volunteer basis, if you tend a “giving plot” as well as your own and generate a certain amount of food for shelters or soup kitchens or whatever, then your fee is waived the following year.
Anywho… just spouting off my ideas
I live at Eastern Village. We are not a co-op. We are a cohousing community. You can find out more about cohousing at: http://www.cohousing.org/
Editor’s note: Fixed it. Thanks! — JD (Apr 1, 2009)
Why does there have to be just one community garden? There are many places for smaller ones, for example the open space in front of the Silver Spring Library on Colesville Road…and immediately next to it the open space that is part of Ellsworth Park. I’m sure there are at least a dozen others like this in the DTSS area.
My favorite spot would be that stupid “pocket park” in front of the Silver Spring office, at the corner of Ga. & Wayne. It is big, round and almost totally hardscape. There are a few token bushes in the center. That area could be enlarged and used for several plots. It gets tons of sun. Nobody uses that sun-blasted, traffic-noise-infested “park.” A hardcore urban gardener could do something with it.
“Pocket Parks” were part of the original focus, but the park staff thought it would be too much hassle to till & enforce in lots of little spots. But that is all they will find in an overdeveloped area. And they should be looking at our growning inventory of vacant lots owned by developers as well — both in their current gravel/weed state, and when and if something is built upon them.
I had another option- How about using the area behind the proposed civic building (along Cedar St.)? I believe that area was originally designated for a condominium but I believe that proposal is dead. Does the county own that space?
tj, worth a look. However, what about a general survey of green space, and how it can be protected? I have seen a couple of yards attached to churches and related nonprofits that look like they would be good for frisbee or gardening or something.
County-owned land should be considered for stuff, and there should be a process for choosing which stuff. Next to a street, gardening might be great. Back a ways, great for frisbee-tossing kids.
The original notion of this project, to look just in parks, was absolutely bonkers. And surely it violates existing rules and procedures for parks. Vismara said there are a couple of parks with neighbors who are hot to put community garden plots there. How do they know that there are NOT other neighbors who have been itching to use the park for recreation, maybe if some brush broken glass or whatever were removed? How do people tell the parks dept. what they want? Does the parks dept care what exiting users and highly likely potential users want?
This is not the only community garden planned. There is another one planned further away from downtown and the two are only pilot projects. David Vismara is planning to do more but as, has already been noted, there are not a lot of places. It’s easiest for the county to build a garden in one of the parks as it eliminates some of the red tape.
There are a couple of others planned, neither are near DTSS. Also, Vismara said others are being eyed upcounty. “Red tape” is not the term I would use here. Steps include the memoranda of understanding needed between agencies if land other than parkland were used. Furthermore, it seems highly unlikely that this “pilot” project is legal. It seems more like a quick, cheap attempt to fly under community rader and take park land. Finding land for community gardens is a lot of work. The people who want them, including any elected officials, need to do that work.
Developers are required to provide the community an amenity when the build. The only amenity we seem to get are large, paved, useless spaces in front of the new buildings. Why not have developers put community gardens in the development as the amenity?
Karen makes an excellent point. Also, these spaces usually get tons of sun, and are flat. And I bet the people living in those buildings or near them do not even know that those paved spaces are an ammenity. They probably fear being chased by a security guard if they even set foot on them.
Also, what about apt complexes that have only grass around them, not a single tree or flower? How many tenants have thought of organizing their neighbors and planting something, but don’t even know the first step?
When nominating sites for community gardens, keep in mind the following criteria needed:
It is pretty slim pickings in downtown SS. I’ve asked several times for the site on Bonifant and Fenton to be a garden (of any kind, but community plots ideally for the neighboring condos and apartments) instead of the useless, empty field it is now. I was told “no” due to “liability reasons” — I think the real reason is fear that once a garden is planted there, the public would stage some kind of Berkeley protest and not let it go over to the new SS Library construction.
Same goes for the police station site on Sligo Ave. I and others in my community have made multiple requests in the past few years as to the fate of that front lawn and why it can’t be used now or when the police station closes. Another flat out “No” response – no reason given.
Use of park land for community gardens is a valid one and common among all the other DC-area jurisdictions and even the Federal Govt sets aside park lands for that purpose in WDC. There are LONG wait lists at all these gardens and MoCo residentshave been clamoring for this service for decades, it is past time for this pilot program and for MNCPPC to move forward.
The most ironic thing of this whole issue is that many upcounty residents actually complained to MNCCPC that we downcounty folks were getting preferential treatment in that the community garden pilots are starting with us down here. To that I say a big “phhbttt” ;-) Seriously though, isn’t it nice to finally have a park amenity inside the beltway that others can be envious of?
Editor’s note: This comment was edited for readability. — JD (Apr 2, 2009)
Kathy, I thought envy was one of the 7 deadly sins. We are woefully short on parkland in this area. Use of parkland for community gardens might be OK in a really big park bordered by big streets. There could be garden plots around the edges. But every inch of SSI park is used.
When I think park, I think “set aside, preserved.” I don’t think of some project, “pilot” or not, that would wipe out uses currently available to the public.
Luv – I was joking on the envy thing :-). If you look at the county park system overall, you’ll see most of it is not set aside for nature preservation and appreciation, but rather for large recreational uses like the huge soccer complex in Germantown, water parks, community centers, man-made fishing ponds, etc. that cater to special interests and cut it off from other uses. Thousands of county residents want to be able to grow their own and deserve comparable services as offering in neighboring jurisdictions.
Forgot to add one criteria to the list of what to look for when suggesting community garden locations — the county has stipulated the garden plots not be put in stream valley parks. That makes it especially tough for the inner beltway area to find space for growing down here. I was going to add the Sligo Golf Course as a perfect solution as no one else seems to want it in the county system and it has great expanses of sunny, open sites near condos, townhomes, etc.
However, I believe it fully falls into the stream valley park definition. Too bad that they’d allow it to be fields soaked in pesticides and constant gas mowers going, but prevent it to be used for cultivation.