PRCS Commission discusses plans for Community Garden

Discussions about bringing a community garden back to Culver City were held at the Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Commission meeting last Tuesday, October 7. The plans are preliminary, but the city could see the construction process begin next year if things continue to move forward.

It would be hosted at two locations to start: 16 plots at Veterans Park and 13 plots at Syd Kronenthal Park. Those interested in reserving a plot must live in an apartment or demonstrate a lack of adequate yard space for gardening, and they must pay $32 a year to rent the space.

Discussions about a new Community Garden in Culver City have persisted since the Wende Museum, which moved into its current Culver City site in 2017, replaced the city's original Community Garden. Current plans prioritize reserving space for those who had plots at the original garden before opening up to other applicants.

Plans for this community garden are still preliminary, but the city's hiring of Landscape Architect Ryan Drnek — who presented information on the project to the Culver City Garden Club during the October 7 meeting — was a key step in advancing the process, according to Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Department Director Ted Stevens.

Drnek led efforts to design two spaces in city parks to host community Garden spaces. The first is at the Veterans Memorial Center, directly in front of The Plunge on Barman Avenue, and the second is next to the basketball courts at Syd Kronenthal Park.

These areas were chosen after walk-throughs of the parks and are not the focus of park activities or activation.

"[Drnek] has walked the sites and come up with what he feels are the best locations, using spaces within the parks that are not really used for anything else," Stevens said at the October 8 meeting.

Part of the project includes the removal of several palm trees at each site. There are three palm trees near each of the community garden sites, with the trees at Syd Kronenthal Park considered particularly troublesome due to their proximity to utility lines.

"They've been topped and hacked and chopped, and they are not really in the best condition because they have constantly had to be trimmed to keep them from growing into the utility lines," Stevens explained about the trees at the proposed Syd Kronenthal site.

These trees would be replaced at another location in Culver City, most likely with a different species. Labor costs, like those associated with the removal of trees, are included in cost projections that far exceed the current capital improvement budget for this project.

While the financial carryover for a community garden in the budget is $75,000, the current cost for both community garden locations exceeds $300,000. The Veterans Park Project has a cost estimate of $162,808, and the Syd Kronenthal Garden is estimated to cost $149,546. Both estimates include taxes and a 10% contingency.

Measure A was brought up by Director Stevens as a potential source of funding for this project.

The volume of plots was a concern for some commissioners. While other sites could be identified for additional community garden space, the 29 total plots were seen as too small, with PRCS Commissioner Marci Baun questioning the significant gaps between the plots.

"Everything [in the previous Community Garden] was in the ground, and the plots were side by side," Baun said at the meeting.

This concern was exacerbated by the fact that, under the current arrangement conceived as the result of community meetings, a renter would be entitled to a plot for up to six years, which Baun felt was excessive. Drnek told Culver Crescent that the plots were spaced 5 feet apart to allow for accessible wheelchair travel, but changes could be made if feasible under the American Disabilities Act (ADA) and other regulations.

"If we only have 29 plots, that's not awesome for a lot of people," Baun said. "I feel like [six years] is a long time, especially if we only have 29 plots."

Commissioner Thomas Whitaker had a different concern: the location of the Gardens did not reflect the community's needs. He pointed out that most of the city's apartments are located in the Fox Hills Neighborhood and questioned whether city staff knew there was interest in this garden near its proposed locations.

"I realize a lot of people go to Vets and [Syd Kronenthal Park]," Whitaker said, "but...I am wondering if we could do some field research on this."

However, Director Stevens said that he gets emails "pretty often" regarding a community garden, stemming from earlier work to reestablish the space following the construction of the Wende.

"We get emails from people who used to have garden plots and from people who want to have them," Stevens said, "I don't think we'll have trouble filling them."

Maintenance and its corresponding cost were a concern of Commissioner Jennifer Chen. According to Stevens, the community garden sites will be locked behind fences currently planned for anywhere between six and eight feet, and renters will receive keys with the expectation that they will maintain cleanliness in the garden space.

Flowering vines are along the fence are another planned design feature, but cost concerns may dictate the height and amenities of the fence and other parts of the plans, according to Drnek. The city will still be involved in maintaining the space through water system repairs and irrigation installation.