West Hollywood’s Public Facilities Commission has planned an extensive review of the Community Garden Program for their Wednesday night meeting.
Established in 1985 and overseen by the Recreation Services Division, the Community Garden Program has provided temporary garden plots on four vacant city lots since its inception.
Norwich Community Garden (1985)
The city’s first community garden was established on a 7,800 square feet lot at 417 Norwich Drive. It contained 27 garden plots of varying sizes and a relocated raised garden plot in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). However, in 2010, the lot was sold for private development, leading to the closure of the garden.
Havenhurst Community Garden (1995)
This garden was established on a 15,200 square feet lot at 1351 Havenhurst Drive. It hosted 51 garden plots of 10′ x 10′ in size and a composting demonstration area. This lot was also sold for private development in 2003, resulting in the closure of this garden. In 2009, the city opened the Havenhurst Pocket Park, a partnership project with a residential development project.
Detroit Community Garden (1997 and 2010)
The city established two iterations of the Detroit Community Garden. The first, in 1997, was on a 6,300-square-foot lot at 1257 Detroit Street. It contained 24 garden plots of 8′ x 8′ in size, 4 garden plots for students, and a raised garden plot in compliance with ADA. However, the lot was sold in 2002, and the garden closed. The second Detroit Community Garden was established in 2010 at 1201 Detroit Street on a 6,700 square foot lot. It contained 33 garden plots of 9′ x 12′ in size. This lot was sold twice during the city’s tenure, and the garden was eventually closed in 2017 for a development project.
Detroit Community Garden (2022)
In 2022, the city re-established a community garden on a vacant property lot located at 1201-1207 Detroit Street. Currently, it contains 20 garden plots spaced apart due to COVID-19 precautions. However, it’s scheduled to close in October.
The city continues to search for suitable locations to establish new community gardens. It seeks vacant or partially vacant sites with sufficient sunlight, accessibility, and potential for water hook-ups. The community’s assistance in identifying viable locations is appreciated. Moreover, the City Council has directed staff to evaluate the possibility of establishing a community garden as part of the Plummer Park Comprehensive Improvement Plan. The forthcoming review by the Infrastructure Commission will further guide the program’s future.
Requiem for the Detroit Community Garden
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001jclz
If there is a serious contamination problem,it will take thousands of dollars to fix it at the Santa Monica and Crescent Heights corner.Take as an example Los Angeles State Historic Park near Dodger Stadium. The park was once a railroad yard for many years until it was shut down.When the push to turn the land into the park started,it was noted the soil there was contaminated from all the railroad waste. It took years to remove all the bad soil and replace it with soil suitable for the park.The park opened around 2017 and is a very nice location. The… Read more »
If you want to grow things, how about buying a property that has land. This is an utter waste of tax money. The Marxists rent control wackos now want free land too for plants. They don’t get it. Pay for what you use. Let’s build million dollar condos for people who can actually afford to live and shop here.
No, you don’t get it. We will always have rent control here. Move somewhere else if you don’t like it.
Why should I move, I still make lots of money off dumb renters who rent for life, rather than buy a property. Then they end up in their senior years impoverished and begging. Is that you?
You sound like such a lovely person. /s
Believe it or not, not everyone wants OWN property.
“Dumb renters?!” Most people rent apartments in WeHo because the goal of buying a home is way out of reach financially for most people, myself included – the only way they can survive is due to rent control – your comments are callous & cavalier.
Putting it nicely…added to which – not everyone wants to own property – see above.
The city spent over $200 Million on Weho Park. Imagine if they spent a very small portion of the amount, bought several small properties around the city, demolished the aging buildings and then provided community gardens in varying areas across the city. Why NOT?
Non-historic single family structures let’s hope so they don’t displace longtime and senior residents.
Crescent Heights and Santa Monica. Hire a $100,000 consulting study to back me up on this.
There IS an ongoing serious, ground contamination issue going on at Crescent Heights and SMB. Remediation taking a monumental amount of time. There is still a toxic flume under Crescent Heights
Wait what? How do we read more information on this?
How about the lot at Crescent Heights and Santa Monica Blvd. Which I believe the city has had for a decade, and it saddens me to walk past it all the time, and just see a big pile of dirt. Now I understand there’s some contamination in the ground, so that would maybe preclude this.
You are correct. It was too big for the City to see it and/or consider how it could be useful. It’s been 2 blocks down the street from SS’s domicile but the thought undoubtedly never occurred?
Due to the contamination I would not recommend eating anything that grew there, you are right in pointing out that this lot may represent our last opportunity for some meaningful green space. As you say, this is an important but sadly neglected, City resource.
The produce & flowers are grown in raised galvanized containers. Unless you know more than most I believe there was a cleaner located midway in the west quadrant. What remediation would be necessary to utilize this lot now and/or in the future for development. Perhaps the cost of said remediation could be passed on to the future owner. Now is appears to be city owned. May be more reasonable that another $100,000 for consultants.