A proposal to establish community gardens in public parks in three Rochester neighborhoods was approved unanimously Tuesday by the Park Board.
The gardens, intended to give apartment-dwellers and other residents a shared place to plant vegetables and flowers, will be in Slatterly Park in southeast Rochester, beyond the left field wall at Mayo Park in the Eastside Pioneers neighborhood, and in Kings Run Park in the Cimarron neighborhood.
The gardens are being set up under a Rochester Area Foundation program called CROPS and are modeled on a community garden the Foundation established last year in Kutzky Park.
“You all ought to be commended for coming forward and making this happen,” said board member Larry Mortensen.
A fourth garden, already established on city-owned land along Marion Road, near the Park Lane neighborhood, was approved contingent on the neighborhood group aligning itself with RNeighbors or the Foundation.
The Park Board modified a city policy that previously forbade community gardens in public parks. Gardens on vacant, city-owned lots, remnant lots left over from road projects and tax-forfeiture properties were permitted. The reason for the past policy was to preserve park play areas and to protect parks from decay if a garden fell into disuse. By linking the gardens to a longstanding organization like the Foundation or RNeighbors, Park Board members reasoned, responsible oversight of the gardens is more assured.
“It’s an experiment,” Mortensen said.
Each garden plot will measure about 8 feet by 10 feet and be rented to people for $30 a year. Gardening tools and water will be provided.
The new Park Board policy limits the size of garden tool sheds to a lockable chest no taller than 3 feet, and the board declined to allow the installation of separate water tanks. The tanks might be included in the tool sheds or neighbors might lend the use of a garden hose, said Foundation representative Chris Flood.
The Park Department will charge a rental fee starting in the second year of the program. For its own community garden plots, at Essex and Zumbro parks, the city charges rent of $30 for a 20-by-30-foot plot. The charge to the other community gardens might be set at that same rate, members said, but the decision on the rental amount is being reserved until next year.
The three new gardens will contain 100 plots — 36 at Slatterly Park and 32 each at Mayo Field and Kings Run Park. The plots will become available May 15. People must weed and clear their plots by May 30. The gardening season will run through Oct. 31.
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