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Community Gardens: For Now or Forever?

By Alicia Acken Cosgrove, Land Use Specialist, UW-River Falls

Years ago, I volunteered for a community garden. The corner lot had been vacant for years. It was decided that this lot was not the place for an edible garden, but rather, a great place for a community gathering place. Landscapers donated plant material, the locally owned coffee shop coordinated volunteers and provided coffee, and the nuns that lived across the street provided lemonade and gardening tools. A few months ago, I returned to visit some former neighbors and learned that my garden was gone. It�s now a vacant lot with some improvements, waiting for the lower Great Lakes economy to improve.

It�s a common story, many community gardens are grass-roots creations. Few comprehensive or neighborhood plans discuss community gardens. Regulations, while not specifically prohibiting community gardens, may not support their existence. So the tenure is often precarious and the locations of gardens not always ideal. This article will discuss a variety of tools to encourage and protect community gardens, including comprehensive plans, real estate policies, zoning, and land trusts.

Seattle, Washington � Comprehensive Plan

A first step in creating or protecting community gardens is to make community gardens part of the comprehensive plan. Like any other community resource, an assessment of community gardens, including the age, locations, management, land ownership and zoning status could be a useful part of an Issues and Opportunities element. The comprehensive planning process is also an opportunity to identify goals, objectives and programs to encourage community gardens.

Seattle�s comprehensive plan identifies areas to promote and expand community gardens. The plan provides the following measurable goal for including community gardens in areas designated as Urban Villages:

�One dedicated community garden for each 2,500 households in the Village with at least one dedicated garden site.�

Minneapolis, Minnesota � Real Estate Disposition Policy

The Minneapolis Real Estate Disposition Policy provides guidance for the sale of city-owned parcels. Section 2.2.14 outlines the process and limitations for selling and buying community gardens. Community garden lot sales require �favorable neighborhood recommendation and the approval of all adjoining property owners.� Purchasers must be financially viable, and be able to demonstrate experience in owning and operating inclusive community gardens. The lots are sold for market value and the purchaser must place a conservation easement on the community garden.

Cleveland, Ohio � Urban Garden Zoning

Cleveland experienced a loss in the number of gardens in the 1990s; some original Victory Gardens were also being threatened. Community gardens were seen as potential sites for other needed municipal uses such as fire stations and school bus parking lots. According to Julia Barton with Ohio State University Extension, most community gardeners in Cleveland make less than $19,999 a year. Community gardens provide a way for these gardeners to grow an average of $500-$1,000 worth of fruits and vegetables per year, supplementing both their diet and income. A team of extension professionals, non-profits, the planning office, and a city councilman worked to modify the city�s zoning codes to better protect community gardens. According to Barton, �Zoning is the only tool we have to use in Cleveland. It might not be ideal, but it�s all we have. So we worked with it, and decided the best thing we could do was create an Urban Garden District in the Zoning Code.� The following language specifies what can be included in the district:

336.03 Permitted Main Uses
Only the following main uses shall be permitted in an Urban Garden District:
(a) community gardens which may have occasional sales of items grown at the site;
(b) market gardens, including the sale of crops produced on the site.

336.04 Permitted Accessory Uses
Only the following accessory uses and structures shall be permitted in an Urban Garden District:
(a) greenhouses, hoophouses, cold-frames, and similar structures used to extend the growing season;
(b) open space associated with and intended for use as garden areas;
(c) signs limited to identification, information and directional signs, including sponsorship information where the sponsorship information is clearly secondary to other permitted information on any particular sign, in conformance with the regulations of Section 336.05;
(d) benches, bike racks, raised/accessible planting beds, compost bins, picnic tables, seasonal farm stands, fences, garden art, rain barrel systems, chicken coops, beehives, and children�s play areas;
(e) buildings, limited to tool sheds, shade pavilions, barns, rest-room facilities with composting toilets, and planting preparation houses, in conformance with the regulations of Section 336.05;
(f) off-street parking and walkways, in conformance with the regulations of Section 336.05.
(City of Cleveland Zoning Code, Ord. No. 208-07, Chapt. 336, Urban Garden District)

Other municipalities that contain zoning provisions for community gardens include:  Austin, Texas, New York, New York, Portland, Oregon, and Boston, Massachusetts.

The City of Boston Department of Neighborhood Development is notable for distributing grant funding, actively acquiring community gardens, and conveying gardens to over thirty different non-profit and land trust organizations

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania � Land Trusts

Not all land trusts are interested in protecting community gardens or other small parcels of land. Conservation Land Trusts have traditionally focused on protecting farmland and sensitive natural areas. Community Land Trusts, by contrast, tend to work in more urban settings and promote goals such as the promotion of affordable housing or community gardens. Neighborhood Gardens Association (NGA), which is based in Philadelphia, is an example of a land trust that was formed to purchase and protect community gardens. NGA was created through a partnership between the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Penn State Urban Gardening Program, local business representatives, and community gardeners. The Association holds title to twenty-nine gardens. Not all of their gardens are vegetable gardens though; the group also protects sitting parks and flower gardens. The NGA website provides an outline for creating land trusts for the purpose of protecting community gardens.

Madison, Wisconsin � Troy Gardens

A discussion of community gardens would be incomplete without mentioning Troy Gardens in Madison (www.troygardens.org/index.html). In 2001 the Madison Area Community Land Trust purchased the property. Troy Gardens is a 31 acre development that integrates a community garden, a native tall grass prairie, and maple woodlands. The Trust also built and integrated 30 town homes on the site.

There are many more examples of community gardening programs. Each program is unique, and includes different combinations of private, non profit and government partnerships. For more information on community garden efforts located in Wisconsin and neighboring states, please refer to the resources listed below.

Community Gardening Resources in the Midwest

Herbach, Geoff. 1998. �Harvesting the City: Community Gardening in Greater Madison, Wisconsin.� Madison Food System Project Working Paper Series MFSP-1998-01.

Mikolajewski, Matthew. 2002. Milwaukee Community Gardens: Current Trends and Recommendations. University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, School of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Saylor, Kirsten. �Twin Cities Community Garden Sustainability Plan Final Report.� September 2005.

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