Vote Saves Community Garden … for Now
Residents of Madison, Wisconsin, and neighboring Fitchburg are fighting to save a 1 1/2-acre organic community garden from the bulldozer. A vote by local planning officials this week gave them a reprieve, but the solution isn’t permanent yet.
The Capital Times reports that the Drumlin Community Garden sits on property owned by the Alexander Company, which is building a commercial development on its land. The Community Action Coalition of South Central Wisconsin has a one-year lease with Alexander for the garden portion, but the lease runs out this year.
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Company representatives say they’ve donated the garden area to residents for now, but eventually hope to help the community find an appropriate location elsewhere. The problem with that, the gardeners say, is that there’s no other land within two miles of the existing garden with equally good organic soil or community access.
The neighborhood plan approved this week by the Fitchburg Plan Commission acknowledges residents’ concerns and noted that some 40 families in the area benefit from the garden’s current location, which lets them grow their own organic food without having to leave the neighborhood.
Since it’s Madison, Wisconsin, gardening won’t really be an issue now until the spring thaw. What happens when the buds start blooming again next year, though, remains up in the air.
You can read more about the fight to save the Drumlin Community Garden at the Capital Times.
