Yorktown Park Community Garden Gets Council Approval

The City of Edina's first community garden is moving forward, after City Council members voted 3-1 to approve the pilot project and a parking lot to go along with it.

The garden will allow Edina residents—and nonresidents, alike—a chance to rent a 10-by-10 or 10-by-15 space to garden through the end of October. It will be located in Yorktown Park, to the north of the Southdale YMCA and to the east of the Tri-City Skate Park.

Parks & Recreation Director Ann Kattreh said staff members have been working diligently for the past four months to make the garden a reality, after both do.town and the Community Health Committee started pushing the concept.

Kattreh said the garden has been moving along steadily, though it's not clear yet if gardeners will be able to start planting on the estimated May 18 opening date.

With the Council approval, registration for garden plots kicks off Thursday, April 4, for Edina residents. Nonresidents will be able to register for a garden plot beginning two weeks later, on Thursday, April 18. Applications are available both at Edina City Hall or the Southdale YMCA, with plots running $30 for 10-by-15 and $25 for 10-by-10. Additional information is also available on the City's website.

"Construction and our grand opening would be pending weather conditions," Kattreh said. "We've had a little concern as of late with snow on the ground and frost in the soil. We might be slightly delayed, but we're hoping to make up ground with a nicer spring."

The Council was broadly in support of the pilot garden, though Member Joni Bennett had some major qualms with an agreement between the City of Edina and Southdale YMCA to build a shared parking lot to the south of the garden site. The 29-space lot will serve gardeners and overflow YMCA members, with the Y picking up the estimated $66,000 tab for constructing the lot.

Bennett said she was not pleased to see the issues of access to the garden and parking at the site "come up kind of as a caboose" during the planning process.

"I'm troubled we're talking about a pilot project with a permanent parking lot," she said.

Council Member Mary Brindle said she had no problem with a parking agreement with the Y, noting it's necessary to have convenient parking for something like a community garden.

"If parking is not convenient to the garden, you're going to have a tough time renting plots," Brindle said. "I think if you're going to have a parking lot, you may as well make it a permanent parking lot."

The pilot garden is expected to cost the City of Edina more than $21,000 in its first year, with the bulk of that cost ($8,500) going toward constructing a four-foot-high fence around the garden plots to keep animals at bay. Plot fees are expected to generate $1,515 in profit, and a fundraiser at Whole Foods on April 18 is anticipated to bring in an additional $3,000.

Much of the cost of the garden is up-front, with expenses only estimated at $1,950 for a second year of maintaining the project. The area will also include a compost bin, an 800-gallon water containment tank, bikes racks, benches and wood chip-covered walkways.

Mayor Jim Hovland thanked Kattreh and everyone involved for undertaking a garden pilot project in Edina. 

"I suspect as we go along here and see how this works out, we'll get to some sort of overall policy," Hovland said. "But let's see if it works first."

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