The Boardwalk Community Garden has been functioning as a garden for over 16 years under the jurisdiction of the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, and is a place for the entire community. This long-standing community garden in Coney Island might be destroyed if the City approves the construction of the Seaside Park and Community Arts Center. The New York City Community Garden Coalition is concerned about the inappropriate process by which the City attempted to decommission the Garden, the City’s failure to assist the Garden in re-registering for a license, and the City’s hollow attempt at a solution.
The City’s ability to transfer or terminate a City-owned GreenThumb community garden during the years 2002 through 2010 was established by the 11/17/02 Memorandum of Agreement (“MOA”). The MOA requires that, in order to develop or dispose of land containing a City-owned GreenThumb garden the relevant City agency must provide the Gardener of Record with a list of available City owned vacant lots, if any, within one-half mile of the existing GreenThumb garden, from which the Gardener of Record may select an alternative garden site.
It is NYCCGC’s understanding that the City never offered the Gardener of Record or any member of the Garden the opportunity to register and license at a new site. The original license should have continued by its terms as it was never cancelled or superseded by a new license for the alternate site. Further during the 2009 Coney Island Rezoning Process, when the City Planning Commission approved the disposal and rezoning of the Garden, the City never contacted any member of the Garden about the rezoning process, nor did the City include a Garden Review Statement with the rezoning plans as required by the MOA. Thus the City failed to follow the mandatory process for the disposition of a community garden during the 2009 rezoning.
Although the City has offered to relocate the Garden to the Surf Side Garden if the members of the Garden were to accept this offer and relocate to the Surf Side Garden, Coney Island would have one less community garden as a result. The intent of the MOA was to permit, when necessary for community development, the relocation of existing community gardens into “available City-owned vacant land” of comparative size, thus preserving the amount of community garden space available to the community. By failing to submit a Garden Review Statement the City has failed to follow proper processes in its attempt to relocate the Garden.
The GreenThumb program and the MOA were established to preserve and promote community garden spaces, providing a step-by-step process that the City must follow if it wants to successfully relocate an existing garden. The MOA was not designed to create “gotcha” scenarios to trap unsuspecting community gardeners when the City fails to follow mandatory procedures or fails to send required notices and instructions about garden registration and license renewal. If offered no other recourse the Boardwalk Garden community and the NYCCGC are prepared to file a temporary restraining order against the City in violation of the agreements and rules governing City community gardens and the GreenThumb program.
The NYCCGC believes that this case has the potential to be a watershed for the Community Garden Movement and to set significant precedents: it can potentially leverage the ultimate disposition on securing permanence. Strategically a legal action will shine a light on the significant contributions of community gardens on via a highly visible platform before various City entities and the public.
We ask for our membership’s support and input into this very important issue. We look forward to hearing your ideas and comments.
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