Community garden proposal takes root
Community garden proposal takes root
Parking lot was planned at the West Chester site
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
By DAN KRISTIE, Staff Writer The Daily Local News
WEST CHESTER - Neighbors of the West Gay Street area have asked Borough Council for permission to start a community garden on the former West Chester water tower site at Gay and New streets.
Ben Aller, the leader of the garden effort, said that he and his neighbors want to grow organic vegetables, fruits and flowers. While some of the fruits and veggies will be used by and traded among neighbors, he said, others will be donated to the poor.
The park and recreation committee gave the plan a favorable recommendation on Monday night, and Borough Council is likely next week to grant the neighbors permission to run the garden for a three-year trial period.
“I think this would be a wonderful improvement to a blighted property,” Councilwoman Carolyn Comitta said.
Aller said he and his neighbors want to get permission to start gardening in time for the 2009 growing season.
The water tower site was originally supposed to become a surface parking lot, and it still could end up as one. The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development has given the borough a grant to convert the land into a parking lot, but the grant money hasn’t been spent and borough officials said the site is not likely to become a parking lot within the next three years.
The neighbors, who call themselves the Historic West End Neighborhood Association, are not a legal entity, and the borough therefore cannot sign a contract with them.
The permission borough council is likely to grant the neighbors will be nonbinding.
Aller said the association wants to build 12 raised planters of approximately 3 feet by 10 feet. The association must use raised planters, he said, because the soil on the site is not well suited for agriculture.
Grassy common areas will be maintained between the planters, and smaller planters will be used on concrete footers that once held the water tower’s legs, Aller said.
Aller said the idea for a community garden occurred to him and his neighbors last year, during walks through the West Gay Street area.
“As you walk by things, you tend to look at them and wonder what their potential could be,” Aller said. “The community garden idea seemed like the most usable proposal for our neighborhood.”
To contact staff writer Dan Kristie, send an e-mail to dkristie@dailylocal.com.
URL: http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2009/04/08/news/srv0000005069738.prt
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