Published in the March 2, 2020 edition.

By MARK SARDELLA

WAKEFIELD – Starting this spring and summer, Wakefield will have its first community garden, which will be located at JJ Round Park on Main Street. At Town Councilor Mehreen Butt’s suggestion, the town applied for and received a $50,000 grant last year to create the community garden. The funding must be spent by June 30.

Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio talked about the project at last week’s Town Council meeting. He noted that there had been two public meetings to discuss the community garden concept on Dec. 17 and Feb. 10.

A community garden, Maio said, provides opportunity for residents to grow healthy foods, destress, exercise and share knowledge. They can serve as an alternative to home gardens and provide opportunities for apartment, condo, and senior-living residents to garden. Maio noted that community gardens have been successful in surrounding towns and at the Wakefield Public Schools.

According to the American Community Gardening Association, a community garden “improves people’s quality of life by providing a catalyst for neighborhood and community development, stimulating social interaction, encouraging self-reliance, beautifying neighborhoods, producing nutritious food, reducing family food budgets, conserving resources and creating opportunities for recreation, exercise, therapy and education.”

Construction and setup for Wakefield’s community garden will be handled by the Wakefield DPW and private contractors, Maio explained. Ongoing management will come under the Recreation Department.

The community garden will consist of 49 individual 4-foot by 8-foot plots with two-foot high raised beds, Maio said. There will be a shed for common tools and rain barrels to collect runoff from the roof of the shed. Trash receptacles will be available and there will be compost bins for organic waste.

Maio said that a number of possible sites were looked at, but the goal was to find one that had available parking, was accessible by public transportation, was centrally located and already equipped with electricity and water supplies. For safety reasons, Maio added, a highly visible location was desired.

Some of the locations that were considered were Hall Park, Spaulding Street, the Crystal Lake area, Stedman Street, the West Ward School/Museum, the Lincoln School, Mapleway Playground, Strong’s Meadow and Hartshorne House vicinity.

According to Maio, the plan includes components to promote accessibility such as a ramp to the shed, compliant aisle spacing between beds and ADA-compliant ground covering for the aisles between the garden beds.

Maio explained that plot permits will be assigned via lottery at a cost of $50 per year. The permit fee, he said, was mainly to give the participant a stake. The town will make accommodations for those with financial hardships.

Permits will be valid April 20 to Oct. 30 and will be for one season only. Abandoned and overgrown plots will be reassigned. The garden will be open from 8 a.m. to dusk, seven days a week. No herbicides or pesticides will be used. Only annuals will be planted and no cannabis growing will be allowed.

There will be some other rules and regulations. Trespassing on others’ plots will be prohibited and selling of produce on site is prohibited. Permit holders will be responsible for supervising children brought on site, leashing and controlling dogs brought on site, removing litter and debris after each use and clearing plot of all stakes and non-vegetative matter at end of the season.

There will be a fence around the community garden, Maio said, but no individual fencing of plots will be allowed. No furniture (chairs, etc.) may left at plots but may be stored in the shed. No smoking or vaping will be allowed on the site.

Per policy, for any structure added to a town park, a two-week comment period is required before the official Town Council vote.

The next steps, Maio said, will be to order the beds, loam, barrels, etc. and start planting. He said that he has already secured a company that will build the beds and install high quality soil.

Butt said that the community garden would be “a place of welcoming and bringing people together.”

Councilor Julie Smith-Galvin said that she loved the location because it’s walkable from the Hart’s Hill senior housing complex.

A final vote is expected at the March 9 Town Council meeting.