Council to discuss garden project on Hamilton

Deirdre Newman

A community garden may get a second lease on life tonight when the

City Council considers whether it should reconsider its previous

rejection of the plan.

The council originally approved the garden at 523 Hamilton St. in

December 2001 as a way to maintain open space.

A bid on construction of the garden was set to be automatically

approved without discussion by the council in May, but Councilman

Allan Mansoor pulled it for discussion and it ended up wilting from

lack of financial support.

Councilwoman Libby Cowan requested a rehearing and will have to

present new information tonight to convince the rest of the council

to reconsider its decision.

The city bought the site in 1975 with the idea of using it as some

type of park. In 1999, staff began exploring the site for

construction of a skateboard park. But due to safety concerns from

the neighborhood, the council opted to look into other alternatives,

including determining if there was any interest from adjacent

property owners in purchasing the property.

During the hearings for the skateboard park, it was ultimately

established that a community garden would be best suited for the site

to preserve open space and to alleviate the parking and safety

concerns raised by the skateboard park.

Forty-two plots were planned for the garden and 40 interested

gardeners had expressed interest in them.

Although $75,000 had already been budgeted in this year’s Capital

Improvement Program for the garden, Mansoor took issue with the

$71,000 bid for construction because of the city’s current $4 million

budget deficit. Mansoor said his mind hasn’t changed since then and

that there are more appropriate uses for the money.

“I think a pocket park would be a possibility or even commercial

[use],” Mansoor said. “Either or could work. If it was sold and used

for commercial, that money could go into the park fund, so either way

it would benefit the parks.”