There’s not enough land in question to call it a land war, but it’s certainly a spirited land skirmish.
Proponents of a community garden, where residents would lease plots and start planting veggies and the like, are eyeing three potential sites, including the one-third acre Bicentennial Park, near the greenbelt on the south side of town.
But park neighbors say a garden takeover would erase the patch of green that has become in many ways their own, and 74 residents have signed a petition to that effect.
Neighborhood kids and parents play at the park, small picnics are held, and adults meet to walk dogs or eat lunch at the park’s lone table, under the shade of trees that residents themselves planted decades ago. Three homes with fences abutting the park have gates that open onto it from their back yards.
Community garden supporters stress that portions of the 5.3-acre Hermosa Valley Park and the 4.5-acre South Park also are under consideration, as an ad-hoc committee prepares to recommend a site to the City Council, perhaps in February.
But attention was focused on Bicentennial, at Fourth Street and Ardmore Avenue, when Councilman Jeff Dulcos listed it as the proposed garden site in documents that were drawn up quickly to meet a deadline to apply for a grant for the project.
In an additional wrinkle, opponents say a potential community garden could occupy the whole of Bicentennial, not just a portion. However, community garden proponent Scott Powell said one third of the park would remain open to the general public. Powell is founder of Earth Club, which promotes sustainable gardening of edible plants with water-saving irrigation techniques.
Duclos said it was a misstep to list Bicentennial on documents he presented to the City Council last month. He said a location had not been chosen, and the grant would have stayed with the project regardless of the garden’s eventual site. At the meeting, other council members opposed the grant application, and Duclos withdrew it.
“I totally get it, how they feel we were moving ahead with something,” he said of the park’s neighbors in an interview last week. “If I had it to do again I would have listed City Hall as a location.”
But, he said, community garden proponents continue to eye Bicentennial’s flat terrain, available water and electricity, and the convenient location of a city building that stands on the land.
Duclos said a community garden would allow residents to get close to the land for some of their food, and demonstrate green and healthy practices such as irrigating with re-circulated rainwater and the use of herbs as pesticides. He said fruit trees and meeting areas would be planned as well.
Bob Catalano, owner of Island Pacific Racing, has done business near Bicentennial since it was formally dedicated as a city park in 1976. Before that, it was a sandy lot with city equipment on it, and the tiny stretch of Fourth Street in front of it was unpaved.
His business is grandfathered into an area now zoned for homes, and he hopes the park will still be there, in its current form, when he eventually builds a residence there.
Many neighbors believe a change at the park would cause their scant parking to be taken up by community gardeners.
Ruth Rask, who has lived across the street since 1985, said she fears for two auto shops near the park.
“I don’t want anything to happen to the businesses, and I think it will, because there will be no parking for people,” Rask said.
Duclos said the parking concerns could be mitigated. Residents who bid on and win leases to garden plots could be told that if they park in the immediate neighborhood, they will lose their lease, he said. He also said other community gardens typically see only a couple of gardeners at any one time.
Virginia Oaxaca, who lives on Ardmore near the park, says it has served the neighborhood for decades.
“Kids kick balls around there, fathers teach their kids soccer. It’s a meeting place for the neighborhood. Some police officers eat lunch there, and people from the [adjacent] auto shop eat lunch there,” she said.
“They want to cut down the trees,” she said. “Bob [Catalano] planted those trees himself 30 years ago.”
Indeed, Catalano planted a row of evergreens in the mid-1970s, and another neighbor planted some of the park’s other trees.
Proponents of a garden plan said some trees would be removed if Bicentennial Park is selected.
“Some trees will have to be removed,” Powell said.
“Most of the trees planted there are not native, consume too much water — juniper, pine, eucalyptus trees — and were planted by some of the neighbors without city approval.
Powell said the community gardeners would plant as many as 15 new fruit and nut trees with grapes, kiwi and passion fruit on the western third of the park, which also would hold a seating area.
Oaxaca also said the park would have to be fenced, leaving it prey to vagrancy by people who would see the fencing as a privacy screen.
Duclos said the process of selecting a possible community garden site is far from complete. The committee will recommend a site, or a “mix-and-match” plan of two or more sites, to the City Council, and the matter is expected to see public hearings before the council and the Parks and Recreation Commission before a decision is made.
Ramiro Ramirez, owner of Alliance Auto Care, said leaving the park unchanged would leave it open to the greatest possible number of people. He said he was asked if he wanted to keep the neighborhood park to himself, and he replied:
“Everyone is welcome here. I’m not putting up a gate.” ER
