Email with Maureen 9/18

Hi Amy,
I was at a conference when your emails came in. Sorry for the delayed response. I did have some neighbors from the neighborhood contact me and raise some strong opposition to the garden proposal. We currently have a Volunteers Maintenance Agreement with one of these gentlemen for mowing the grass. I asked them to let their views be known to the Civic Association. Have you heard of this, yet.
One thing Recreation and Parks does not want to get into is pitting neighbors against neighbors. I really hope this can be worked out. The gentleman that contacted me lives adjacent to the park.
I will call you this afternoon. In answer to your question - we develop a lease agreement with your Civic Association. Your garden would be organized as a subgroup of the CA. It was the CA's ownership of land that allows the raised beds and any fencing. (however, the fencing was a big part of the objections from the neighbors). As your CA, you can decide who gardens there.
As a side note, I don't think we will allow chicken wire. That's a fencing material that we definitely are trying to avoid. I am looking into the garden policies that Grandview has for guidance.
I look forward to talking with you!
Maureen
___________________________________

Hi, Maureen, Yep, that is what I wanted to talk to you about-a heads up as well as ask about some other issues. Unfortunately, when I did the survey a year ago, none of those neighbors joined in the discussion. If I had known there would be any opposition, my year's worth of work wouldn't have happened. BUT the good thing is we have made some headway between community gardens and the parks, so I am happy about that. Maybe someone else will have more luck! So, like the city, I also do not want to put a garden in where people don't want it. That was never my intention, but they never talked to me, so there was no way to know. But some of them have contacted me now, so we are going to do another survey with the updated garden plan and more specific information to find out what the new feelings are about the garden. I will share the results with you if you are interested. I am going to contact Jennifer Adair from the CA so she can have heads up, too. It is so frustrating that people didn't just start this process by talking to me first-the whole reason they have your name is because I shared on the blog about our meetings and the steps we have been going through. I have gone above and beyond to make this whole process transparent and invite people into the planning (the blog, meetings, updates, work days, etc) and instead of being neighborly, people acted poorly. I suppose you have to deal with this in some fashion with CRP. It is draining. Not that this matters, but I don't think chicken wire is in the plans.Okay, so I will look forward to your call and we can just make sure everything is clear.Thanks!!Amy

CG Location in Park

Here is our updated satellite image provided by our friend at the CRP, Maureen Lorenz.

email to maureen at city 9/6

Hi, Maureen! Two quick requests:

1. Have you discovered anything about the availability of water to the SHCG?
2. Could you send me a photo with the new agreed upon location of the garden in the park behind the basketball court and behind the trees (the one that is a satellite image with a red square for the garden location)? I need it asap because the previous image has it in the trees near a fence, and we have an annual meeting for SHRA coming up and I would like to be prepared!

Thanks so much! Amy

My Reply to the City after the Meeting

Maureen, As you suspected, the area needs to be behind the trees. The garden would not be very productive in the shade. I am glad that Tom was able to communicate on behalf of the SHRA a deep understanding of possible issues for the city. I hope that you heard the same sentiments from what I shared with you on behalf of the SHCG. I feel that the raised beds are an essential part of the success and low maintenance aspect of this garden-the alternative leads us with weeds, mowing issues, communication issues, boundary issues and/or an open pit of mud. I would be happy to speak to anyone on the multitudes of reasons behind raised beds for our particular garden, including a detailed plan for how they will be taken out if the garden is no longer active. Enjoy your break!Amy

Email after Meeting From Maureen

Amy, Thanks for meeting with me Friday. I did not do a very good job with the weather! I made this map of the area I think you are proposing for the community garden. I have not taken the proposal to the Director, yet. I do think the raised beds throughout could be an issue, based on past experience. We will review the proposal and might ask for a reduction in the raised beds. Tom also mentioned a performance bond. I'd like to avoid that, but it was a very serious understanding of what our issues could be and I appreciate that. The condition of the park also is most appreciated. I've attached a plan that shows where I thought you were proposing the garden. This nestles into the trees, so I probably have it wrong. Should I go out beyond the "landscaped area" to avoid the trees, shade, and neighbors. Let me know. Taking a few days vacation, but I'll be back in on Monday morning. Maureen

City Images of the Park

Meeting with Maureen

We braved the rain for a minute or two to meet at the park, but ended up having the meeting at my house! It was a really productive meeting, and here is a summary in the email I sent to the city:

Hi, Maureen,

Thanks again for meeting with me and Tom in regards to the Sycamore Hills Community Garden proposal. I wanted to sum up what was said during the meeting for the benefit of the others not present, as well as to make sure we have everything correct, including the items we are going to follow up. Please let me know if there are any changes (CG=community gardening, SHRA=Sycamore Hills Residents Association):

The CDRP wants to make sure that the garden will be well maintained, and that there will not be any reliance on the city to do so. The City has had poor experiences with CGs in the past, and recently there have been an onslaught on phone calls from new Americans wanting to use the parks for food production. The City wants to avoid any sort of situation like this. Maureen was very pleased to see how strong our RA is and how we have years of proven experience maintaining a pool and collecting fees. She also mentioned that we have to get the insurance (how did I misread that?! in the agreement) but Tom said it can be really cheap, like $13/year.

Amy explained that she has been a part of CG around Columbus for years, and has developed this plan from everything that she has learned. This includes making sure that there is adequate support for a CG in the area, which is why she surveyed 230 houses and found out that 31 households are interested in participating in the garden. Amy also stated that she is taking this partnership with the City with the utmost care because she wants this CG to be so successful that other gardens to be able to follow in the footsteps of SHCG. She also made the case for the fence, raised beds, and hope for a structure to catch rainwater (and like today demonstrated, to have a simple covered area for the park for rain and sun protection).

Tom said the CG will have the SHRA support. This means that if the garden were to fail, a lease agreement will designate SHRA as responsible for any clean up. (Amy is morally never going to let this happen, but it is good to have the support so the city doesn't feel burdened.)

List of To-Dos:

Amy-present to NWCA and get their support, send Maureen the rationale for the structures, continue fundraising, creating community partnerships, and writing grants

Tom-just be awesome like he already is

Maureen-share info with City, and research water taps from garden club

CG update for newletter and SHRA meeting 5/3

As of 4/21/09 these are the SHCG updates that will also be shared at the next SHRA meeting:

1. We have donations already starting to come in and want to make more community partnerships. Letters asking for donations that are out: Costco, Oakland, Mr. Mulch, Strader’s Garden Center. Letters thanking for donations: Wild Birds Unlimited. Please tell us your other ideas and connections.

2. Entrance idea for funds out. We have approximately 10 people willing to help. What great support!

3. Nature Hills Nursery Winner was announced on 4/17, and we were not selected. A calendar to share information of this kind of information is now on our blog.

4. Coordination to have the support of the OSU Master Gardener program is underway. We are sort of the guinea pigs for this!

5. The city wrote back. I heard from a new person, Maureen, and I hope she will be supportive; our previous city contact, Tina was very nice and enthusiastic about our idea. She included the agreement to put community gardens in the park. Things to consider:

• Water taps are an option from the division of water and power, public utilities dept? How much would that cost? What would it look like? Would we be able to get drip irrigation and a hose spigot? Bill says one CG was allowed to turn on water over the summer, but we would have to check that it is potable.
• Maureen is willing to have a meeting in the park May 1. This is great! I would like planners, trustees and Bill Dawson to be there. Would other neighbors being there help or should we save that for later?
• Maureen asked for SHCG to contact the “Northwest Area Commission”? Who are they? Upon my research I found that we do not have any representation for our area-so they do not exist. She wanted us to meet with them because: "parks often have competing space for programs, we ask the groups that have oversight of the area plans to review and provide direction to the Department." She will be getting back to me about this issue.
  I want SHCG to meet with NWCA to get their support. I have emailed them about a presentation.
• I called Bill because the agreement states that CG work has to be done as outlined by "the Franklin Park conservatory." What is the outline? He is not sure what this means either.
• The agreement states that power tools can be used with written approval-what is the process behind this?
• The agreement states that any fees that are charged have to approved-what is the process behind this?
• What are the city's maintenance standards that we are to adhere to?
• What about my friends of the park question? I am going to go for it because Bill says it will be incredibly helpful to realizing our vision. Need four other people to sign up. I am hoping the three garden coplanners and Tom, as the SHRA president, will join on. This is in the works.

6. I volunteered for another CG kickoff event to learn how others have organized their garden. It was incredibly helpful and I have posted photos and paperwork on the blog: http://sycamorehillscommunitygarden.blogspot.com/ .

7. I found our community connection to donate veggies/fruits to within the Plant a Row for the Hungry program: Clintonville Beechwld Community Resource Center.

My Reply to the City

Hi, Maureen,
Thanks so much for your reply, and I am looking forward to working with you further. I do want to mention to Tina that I am very grateful for all of her previous work and support. I have included Bill Dawson, the other SHCG planners, and the Sycamore Hills Residents Association Trustees in on these emails because they would also like to be involved in these discussions. I would appreciate a meeting at the park. I think that is a great idea, and I would love to use the actual park site to further our discussions. I would like to propose a morning meeting on Friday, May 1. Does that work for you? Lastly, I looked into contacting the Northwest Area Commission, but it seems that we sadly do not have representation for our area. Do you have any suggestions about this? I have been to the Northwest Civic Association meetings. I shared the garden idea to the president, Bill Carleton, Chairperson on the Parks committee and he was in support of it. I have been planning to make a formal presentation about the garden, gain the NWCA's support, and open up ongoing communication with them. Thank you for your time and consideration,
a

4/14 Email to Planners

Hi, Ladies!

I hope Linda is enjoying her vaca and NOT reading this email right now! :) Melody's vaca is on the way, so that means it will be Sue's turn soon! :)

I talked with Bill Dawson for a long time today in regards to what seems to be a HUGE discrepancy between our vision for a successful community garden and their vision for a "no issue for them" community garden. It was very helpful and here is what he said:

1. talk with NWCA to get their support. I plan to contact them today and set up a time to present at their meeting. I hope you will come with me!

2. find a representative from NWA. We do not have any representation for our area, so this will take some legwork. more support the better AND they speak directly to the city council, so this is important.

3. meet with Maureen at the park. I hope you can come to this too. Bill is going to come. He said It HAS to be more than me! I am inviting the SHRA board too, but I am especially going to get Tom there. Emphasize this is wanted by the community.

4. capture quotes from the neighbors in support of the garden. would someone be willing to do this? this would mean sending out an email or calling people to ask for quotes AND looking through the letters than came in aobut the garden and pulling quotes out (and then asking permission to use them.)

5. Apply for friends of the park status. I need your signatures. I need to get Tom's too!

6. If things don't work out with Maureen, we need to talk with Rachel, who is Priscilla Tyson's assistant, and then schedule a meeting with Councilwoman Tyson. We need to get her involved and ask for concessions. She is really behind projects like this. Also, we can get Charlita Tovares involved from the health aspect.

7. contact water and power about water access.

8. Prepare your case: Click here to see that information in the other post.

Well, At Least They Got Back to Us

Here is the latest in the city communication. Notice no raised beds. Also, no fences. No permanent structures of any kind. They just want us to dig out plots in the ground, and that is it. I don't think they get it. Here is what I need to try to communication and help them envision all the benefits of a well planned community garden:

WHY A FENCE? This garden will be in an open field where deer, rabbits, gophers, and other wildlife will have the opportunity to devour the garden on a regular basis. Our goal for this community garden is to first and foremost, build community. What does community represent? It represents increased interaction between neighbors, the improvement our neighborhood, the creation of healthy food and eating habits, older generations sharing wisdom with younger generations. Additionally, the community garden will establish a service component to our neighborhood through our participation in Plant A Row for the Hungry program, which will result in the donation of food to local pantries. Other efforts are in the works to create teen participation and ownership of the garden which will include entrepreneurship and service. I can't imagine anything more deflating to our goals than residents volunteering time and effort to make the community garden viable, only to find it raided by area wildlife. Also, a well constructed and esthetically pleasing fence would create a defined boundary which would be of great assistance to the city employees who mow the grass in the park.

WHY RAISED BEDS? We want this garden to be as low maintenance and as user friendly as possible in order to ensure that it is sustainable over time. We want our efforts now to pave the way for future Sycamore Hills Residents to participate in the garden. Raised beds help us to accomplish these goals, especially in terms of keeping the garden aesthetically pleasing, weed free, and more accessible to gardeners who are elderly and/or young. We plan to have some beds that are raised high enough that a person could sit in a chair (or wheelchair) to garden. Furthermore, a chair position to curate the garden is in the process of being created within the Sycamore Hills Residents Association to help maintain this sustainability. Coordinating a community garden takes a large amount of effort and energy, and a garden without raised beds is a garden that takes an immense amount of weed control, reshaping of beds each year, difficulty in assigning plots, and communication of garden expectations and guidelines.

WHY A STRUCTURE? The goal for this garden is to grow community, and that includes members of the community that are and are not gardeners. The structure would provide a place for gardeners to hold demonstrations and meetings, as well as take a healthy break in the shade. A structure would provide a meeting space for other community members to meet, hold parties, book clubs, or bring their children for a walk. The structure would also have an important purpose of providing a means of water collection. The structure would be outfitted with gutters that would feed into water collection barrels. These barrels would not only provide the much needed water for the garden, but also provide a way to educate others about how they can collect water at their own homes.

Here is that email:
Hello Amy, Director McKnight has asked me to oversee Community Gardens requests. I work with Tina and she forwarded me your last few emails. Attached is the adopted policy approved by the Recreation and Parks Commission. One of the items the Department cannot allow is raised beds or structures. You will also notice that we cannot supply water. We've been given no budget to adopt a new program and this leaves us no options. Have you had any communication with the Northwest Area Commission? Because parks often have competing space for programs, we ask the groups that have oversight of the area plans to review and provide direction to the Department. I can meet with you at the Park to discuss what can be done, if you would find that helpful. Just let me know. I will be out of town Thursday through Tues and back Wednesday, April 22. Maureen Lorenz Columbus Recreation and Parks1111 E. Broad St.Columbus, OH 43205Phone 614.645.3306Fax 614-645-8839mllorenz@columbus.gov

Water Issues

We thought we would be able to tap into this through the city, but due to cut backs, we can't. They also checked into finding a possible tap, and Maureen says they don't seem to have one.

So feel free to save these, fill them with water, and bring them with you to water your plot!

Letter Back to the City

2/24/09
Hi, Tina,

Thanks so much for looking over the plans, your support, and writing back so quickly. It has been such a pleasure to work with you throughout this process!

These questions are great ones, and we are very prepared to answer them! We have discussed all of them within the garden coordinators group and with community members for the various grants we have applied for. We have separated them by topic/question:

1. meet the terms and conditions of the Policy and the Lease Agreement
a. Absolutely. The practices and procedures laid out in the agreements are actually very much in line with how we would like to see the garden run.

2. How much community acceptance/support
a. To answer this question, we would love to direct the city to our blog in which all of our research on this subject has been published online. The link to graphs of that information is here:
i. http://sycamorehillscommunitygarden.blogspot.com/2008/07/survey-results.html
b. To summarize the information on these graphs:
i. We have 97% support of the garden from the neighborhood
ii. We have 31 households which are very interested in participating. That is approximately 60 people.
iii. We have 4 dedicated garden co-planners in addition to myself as the Curator and Founder.

3. 'group' that will be maintaining
a. The maintenance will be done by the families who choose to participate as part of their agreement to have a raised bed in the garden. Each bed will require one hour of service and clean up of the grounds a month. The agreement will also stipulate the conditions and time frame for putting the garden to bed in the winter. The layout of the garden is also going to help us be as maintenance free as possible by intentional design (i.e. paths covered by weed barrier and then woodchips as opposed to any grassy areas).
b. Any revisions in the maintenance plan will happen after our first year of operation when we reflect on what worked well and what needs to change.
c. We are also going to try to establish community connections to schools, churches, retirement homes, and the OSU Master Gardener group in terms of setting up service programs.

4. funds been identified
a. The grants that we have applied for are also on the blog, including our application information and budgets. That link is:
i. http://sycamorehillscommunitygarden.blogspot.com/2008/12/grants-we-are-going-for.html
ii. They are: Aveeno, Nature Hills Nursery, Fiskars Project Orange Thumb, and The Captain Planet Foundation.
b. We also will apply for the Healthy Sprouts Grant ($200-500) and the Columbus Foundation Growing to Green Grant ($4000).
c. We are also in the process of creating partnerships for local businesses.
i. So far, one lead has been secured: Strader’s Garden Center on 5th Ave will be donating goods.

5. the size
a. The garden design can be scaled down to a size that the city prefers. However, I would like to explain our reasoning for the size that I proposed.
i. The city park that this garden would be in is very large and I feel from my weekly walks and over 30 years of experience in this neighborhood that this would be a good use of only a fraction of the space.
ii. We have over 30 families that are interested in participating in the garden. If each family wants a garden bed for themselves, that will already account for the 20 beds that are planned and we can spill over into the raised beds that will be on the inside of the fence. However, if only a portion of those families want to set up a garden bed in our first year of operation, 20 raised beds will be a good amount for the families and for additional communal and educational beds (like a pizza garden) or service oriented gardens that we can donate to a local food pantry under the Grow a Row for the Hungry program.

6. Water
a. Our only plan for water is water collection barrels at this time. We were really hoping for the tap into the water supply, but we understand that in current economic situation that is not feasible and would hope that in the future this point can be revisited.
b. Because the park is located near a street, we would also provide water for the garden by requesting that community gardeners bring water in jugs with them, and invite helpful neighbors to collect water in their empty water/milk jugs to leave at the garden site.

7. Additional Questions/Developments
a. Would the city advise the SH Community Gardeners to identify themselves as Friends of Sycamore Hills Park? If so, we would like to apply.
i. It would provide us with a 5013c tax exemption code that we could offer to businesses that are interested in donating supplies to the garden, as well as for grant paperwork. Right now, we have been using the Sycamore Hills Resident’s Association tax code, but we would prefer to keep the funds separate.

Living in the CI-TAY of Columbus

Here is the application for Friends status.

Ms. Pinnegar,
It was a pleasure speaking with you this afternoon—congratulations on all your efforts in creating a community garden at Sycamore Hills Park. Attached, please find the “Friends of Columbus Parks” application. I would encourage you to speak to Tina regarding this effort to ensure that there isn’t any conflict in becoming a “Friends” group and creating the community garden, though it seems to me it would be an asset to you. Again, please do keep our office in mind as you continue your efforts—we always appreciate community members taking such a vested interested in our parks. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to be of assistance.
Thank you,
Rachel

Working With The City

I am so happy with the City of Columbus! They are GREAT!! Here are some very interesting things I learned today about our city, parks, city council, and community gardens with just a few quick phone calls. (I would like to add that phone calls actually get picked up by PEOPLE who are very helpful! YAY COLUMBUS!)

Lesson 1: It could be very valuable for our community garden group to apply for a Friends of Sycamore Hills Park status. I have the application now (thanks, Rachel!), but I will check in with Tina first.

If we become Friends of SH, we can actually apply for a $1000 grant to beautify the park AND become our own 501(c)(3) which means we could offer tax write offs for donations AND we would not have to be under SHRA 501(c7) status which might cause problems in applying for grants since they ask for the 501(c)(3) tax exemption number.

Just to put it in writing, my vision for the garden in relation to SHRA is that the Curator will be an elected seat on the SHRA board. I want this so that this project is not solely dependent on me, but can be run by others in the future as well. This will benefit the community, the garden, and bring new energy and ideas into the way the community garden works. So, regardless of the possibilities of being our own separate entity, I still do want to be a part of SHRA and I think being our own entity as well can only enhance this partnership.

Here is an image from the website about the grant and a listing of some of the other Friends Groups. There is always the possibility that the current budget cut backs will effect this grant possibility, but it is a good resource to keep in mind for the future.


Lesson 2: This is our councilwoman in charge of City Parks. I spoke to her Legislative Assistant, Rachel and she was a wealth of information. Rachel said that Councilwoman Tyson is very supportive of community initiated events, and that it would be great to tell her about the garden someday.



Lesson 3: I have been very lucky to have the assistance of Tina. She is very supportive of this idea. I found her through Bill Dawson at Franklin Park Conservatory, but this is another way I could have gotten in contact, too.

Moral of the story: contact your city! Strangely enough, these new lessons are all the result of calling 311 to ask a few questions because someone came and painted the street that I live on with official looking markings!