Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

TO:	Tom Markus, City Manager
CC:	Mark Hecker, Ernie Shaw, Mike Lawless, Scott Wagner
FROM:	Eileen Horn, Sustainability Coordinator
DATE:	March 30, 2016 – Updated 04/04/16
RE:	Common Ground Program Update and New Leases

Background

The Common Ground Program is a community gardening and urban agriculture program created by the City of Lawrence in 2012. The Common Ground Program’s goal is to transform vacant or under-utilized city properties into vibrant sites of healthy food production for our citizens.

In addition to increasing the availability of fresh, healthy produce in our city’s neighborhoods, these gardens have impacts far beyond their boundaries. In exchange for receiving a free license for use of city property, each grower/applicant creates a Community Benefit Plan for their project.  These have resulted in over 5,200 lbs of produce donated to local food pantries, field trips for student groups, and community gardening class topics from compost to tree pruning.  The 2015 program accomplishments speak to the community-wide impact of this program:

Number of gardens/farms:  10

Number of gardeners/farmers:  186

Number of community events/classes:  51

Number of participants in events:  756

Market value of produce sold:  $54,300

Pounds of produce donated: 1,900

The City supports the program by making underutilized properties available for lease, provides support for water meter connections, provides free compost and wood chips to gardeners, and provides liability insurance for participants in the Common Ground program.

Plans for 2016

In January of 2016, the City released our annual Request for Applications, and received qualified applicants for the following new sites to add to the program.

New sites:

• 817 Oak Street:  This was previously a Common Ground site, and is now returning to the program.  We took a brief break in 2015 to accommodate construction of the adjacent Habitat for Humanity home constructed at 813 Oak St.  Just Food, our community food bank, applied to lease the property to create a community garden and production farm.  The community garden will be open to neighbors and Just Food clients, and the farm in the back (north portion) of the property will be managed by Just Food clients starting small vegetable production businesses.  Our Food Policy Council is enthusiastic about this opportunity to highlight affordable housing and urban food production together.
  
  
• 1146 Oregon Street:  This site is in the right-of-way behind the Oread Friends Meeting House.  This site has previously been maintained as a garden by the members of the Meeting House on city property with our permission.  In 2016, we are requesting to “officially” pull them into the Common Ground program.  Nick Brown, owner of Groundworks urban farm, has successfully applied to lease that property to grow vegetables for direct-to-market sales.
  
  
• North Peterson Park (future park site):  This future park site remains undeveloped.  Two citizens that live in the nearby neighborhood have applied to create a community garden on the north end of the future park site, near the newly-constructed playground equipment.  Their application included plans for community garden plots of various sizes available to lease to community members and neighbors.

Lease renewals/expansions:

John Taylor Park (The Garden Incubator):  This site has been successfully managed by community volunteers since 2012.  Aimee Polson, lead garden coordinator, would like to continue to manage this ½ acre site as a community/children’s garden, and has requested to sign a new three year lease with the city.

Lawrence Community Orchard:  The City also received a request from the Lawrence Community Orchard, a current Common Ground participant at 830 Garfield St., to expand their orchard north to two city-owned parcels adjacent to 13^th street.  The Lawrence Community Orchard maintains a diverse orchard for free picking by all residents.  By expanding their property north to 13^th street, they hope to be more accessible and visible to the community, and provide a point-of-interest along the Burroughs Creek Trail.

Staff Recommendation

Authorize the City Manager to execute leases for city properties for participation in the Common Ground Program to:

1. Just Food for 817 Oak Street
2. Nick Brown, Groundworks Farm, for 1146 Oregon St.
3. Danielle Brunin and Bridget Meier, for North Peterson Park (2250 Peterson Rd.)
4. Lawrence Community Food Alliance (on behalf of the Lawrence Community Orchard), for expansion to two parcels at 800 and 837 E. 13^th St.
5. Aimee Polson, for John Taylor Park (7^th and Walnut St.)

Appendix A - MAPS

Map of Common Ground sites:

Red = current CG garden and farm sites

Green = proposed expansion for 2016

1.  817 Oak Street – proposed location of Just Food Community Garden and Farm

2.  1146 Oregon Street–proposed urban farm managed by Nick Brown, Groundworks Urban Farm

3.  North Peterson Park Community Garden, by citizens Danielle Brunin and Bridget Meier

4.  Proposed expansion of Lawrence Community Orchard

5.  Lease extension for the current Garden Incubator at John Taylor Park