Glen Ellyn park board split over community gardens plan
A proposal to create new community gardens in north Glen Ellyn has left some park district officials with sticker stock.
The preliminary price tag - roughly $80,000 - surprised commissioners who thought bringing the gardens to Lenox Road near Ackerman Park would be a relatively straightforward project.
"I like the idea, but it's a lot more complicated than I thought it would be," Commissioner Kathy Cornell said.
The board is considering the gardens, where those with green thumbs could rent their own plots, as a 2017 capital project, Executive Director Dave Harris said. The skeptics question the expense and the level of interest, given that on the other side of town, nearly a dozen plots have been deserted in the Village Green community gardens on Lambert Road, sticking the park district with the upkeep.
"People are abandoning plots and it seems to be getting worse," Superintendent of Parks and Planning Dan Hopkins said.
The Lenox Road property presents several challenges. The district would have to install a chain-link fence at least 8 feet high that would cost roughly $20,000 to block deer from feasting on the gardens. And crews would have to tap into a village main to supply water for the site.
"Until the demand really picks up at Village Green, or I see some overwhelming reason why we should be doing this with groups or things like that, I'm not sure it's worth the investment at this point," Commissioner Vanessa Pierce said recently.
Commissioner Melissa Creech suggested the project be spread out in phases to reduce costs.
"I think there's some underserved populations that might be interested in stuff like this instead of just our usual suspects of people with children and so forth," Creech said.
Board President Julia Nephew said Village Green is too far and inconvenient for folks on the north side of Glen Ellyn who can't grow fresh vegetables in their own yards because of heavy shade.
"I just think people on the north side would absolutely love to have the opportunity," Nephew said.
She believes gardens are the best fit for the land on a dead-end street where the park district has bought and razed several homes over the years. And there's already a playground at Ackerman Park.
"There's plenty of sun. It's a quiet space," Creech said. "I think the neighbors would be more tolerable to something like this than to turf and lights and whatever else we could think of to put in a place like this."
While the revenue from annual fees would never be enough to offset the cost of the construction, the district would likely break even on the costs to run the gardens, Harris said. At Village Green this year, the district charged anywhere from $20 to $45 depending on the size of the plot and whether gardeners live in Glen Ellyn. Seniors paid $10 to $15.
"It's not a moneymaker," Hopkins said. "But it's something that I know people really enjoy."
Nephew sees it as a place where kids can learn about food sources.
"I do see it as an educational experience and a truly community making thing as well that this part of Glen Ellyn should have the opportunity to take part in," she said.