TC Decision on Community Garden Causes Outburst

With items on the agenda like "discharge of firearms" and the introduction of the 2010 municipal budget, you might not think that the Maplewood Community Garden would dominate the evening and cause the most passionate outbursts that Maplewood Town Hall has seen this year.

But, indeed, the proposed Community Garden elicited 40 minutes of public commentary, followed by heated discussion amongst proponents and opponents in the Town Hall foyer, and then a lengthy discussion amongst Township Committee members. After the TC voted 3-2 to pass the resolution to place the garden in Orchard Park, three neighbors of Orchard Park stood up and loudly protested the decision.

A Maplewood police officer appeared at the back of the room as the agitated residents moved the protest back out into the foyer.

During public comments, residents of St. Lawrence Avenue, Ridgewood Road, Headley Place and DeHart Road explained that they had received either no notice or insufficient notice about the proposal to place the Community Garden in Orchard Park. They spoke of the loss of open space for active play, of stresses to parking, of speeding cars on DeHart Road, of disruption to neighborhood life and damage to property values.

"It's not fair for a small number of people to determine the use of the space," said St. Lawrence Avenue resident Maura Sackett.

"My kids play there on a daily basis," said Chris Coreschi of Headley Place, as he noted that the raised beds would remove open space.

One commenter said that it was his understanding that community gardens were used to improve abandoned properties or deteriorated areas—which is not the case with Orchard Park.

Irene Dunsavage, the organizer of the Community Garden project, explained that the garden was a concept that went back to the victory gardens of WWII and had recently become popular in urban environments —"but that's just one of many ways" community gardens manifest themselves she said. "Traditionally they just bring people together who want to produce food, who want to garden."

Dunsavage explained that the Community Garden was all set to build beds and start gardening behind Town Hall, but that the Township had pulled the plug on that site on March 16 when the town engineer recommended that drainage issues first be remediated.

A couple of Maplewood residents did speak in support of the garden and its new proposed location. Ben Chapman of Madison Avenue pointed out that the garden would not be limited to 30 participants. He noted that plots were set aside for growing food for local food pantries and that the children's plot would be open to any child in town.

Frank Mentesana spoke about the Feb. 3 organizational meeting of the Community Garden: "When I came here on that first winter night. . . I saw diversity, black, white, young, old, married, unmarried."

"Wherever it turns out, Maplewood needs a community garden." Mentesana who consulted on a gardening and nutrition program at St. Phillips Academy in Newark commented, "A community garden creates community. We all have backyards, yes. But we are not out in the community and creating a community."

During the discussion by the elected officials, opponents spoke out from the audience several times, interrupting the discussion.

Vice Mayor Kathy Leventhal explained that more than a dozen sites had been researched by the Community Garden, Green Team and Jan Zientek of Rutgers University's Master Gardener Program. She said that the garden would be broken down for the winter and that the garden planners would work hard to insure its attractiveness. Leventhal repeatedly stressed that the garden was a "pilot" program that could be moved or adjusted. Neighors reported that the word "pilot" was not used in the notification sent to those who did receive it, nor was it used by the Community Garden in its letter posted on Patch last Friday.

Finally, she said, "If this does go forward, we will have a dialogue" with residents.

Jerry Ryan said he would not support the garden at Orchard Park, mainly because he felt that the original site behind Town Hall was optimal. Ryan said that the garden could locate there after the town fixes the drainage problem. "I think we can wait," said Ryan who felt that the space behind Town Hall was "a place that no one else is contending for."

Fred Profeta disagreed: "There is no place like that in Maplewood. We are built up." Profeta reminded the assemblage that neighbors of Town Hall came to protest that location. "We will hear that with every spot we come up with."

Profeta also said that he was unswayed by complaints of loss of play space for sports. "We have acres and acres and acres of space in town devoted to sports. But we don't have an acre, we don't have a square foot devoted to a community garden." He said the need for a garden "outweighs the view from the window and the potluck supper."

Lester Lewis-Powder said he would not support the garden at the Orchard Park location, echoing Ryan's comments that the garden could wait a year and be located behind Town Hall. Lewis-Powder also said he was unfazed by arguments that the garden was an "attempt to feed the poor," noting the the plots would not yield that much food. He said such arguments were "somewhat disingenuous."

With the other members of the TC split 2-2, the decision came down to Mayor Vic DeLuca who said that, although he felt the optimal location was behind Town Hall, he would like to move forward with the "second best" location of Orchard Park. DeLuca said the project "shouldn't be sold as a solution to poverty," but rather that they should focus on the "notions of community, learning and green."

DeLuca noted that it would be "essential that we have a sit down with the neighbors and work out issues raised."

Ryan asked DeLuca to join him and Lewis-Powder in opposing the location, since the Mayor did say he felt the Town Hall location was optimal. But DeLuca said he felt that it was important to move forward and keep the volunteers engaged, while working to make the drainage improvements to Town Hall in order to locate the garden there next year.

After the vote, three residents stood up and loudly protested the decision. Coreschi was the most vocal, telling Leventhal directly that he thought she was "disingenuous" in saying that she had taken residents feelings into account when she herself had said the notification was poorly done.

As proponents and opponents of the Community Garden placement at Orchard Park filtered out, the protests could be heard outside as the TC moved on to its next item: a Board of Health discussion about allowing chicken coops in backyards.

But that's another story.