Burnaby is one step closer to establishing community garden program

Burnaby is one step closer to piloting a community garden program.

On Wednesday, the planning and development committee adopted a motion to bring a report forward to council that would establish a community garden program on city-owned lands and create an initial pilot program for two sites.

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The joint report, prepared by the planning and development and parks departments, details the establishment of the gardens on city-owned land, as well as the benefits they provide for local neighbourhoods when it comes to food access and food security.

The current framework for community gardens in the city exists with lessee permission within A1, A2, A3 Agricultural Districts, P3 Public and Park Use Districts (which includes parks, public open space, and public school sites) and the MI, M2, M3 and M4 Industrial Districts. Urban agriculture is also permitted for new multi-resident developments.

Burnaby does have some community garden spaces like the Burnaby and Region Allotment Gardens Association’s (BARAGA) leased land, which is tucked between Marine Drive and Marine Way and the Northeast Burnaby Community Garden in the Burnaby Heights neighbourhood. But there is no official program in the city to have groups sign up, establish, and participate in community garden plots.

The report outlines that the community garden program would require an application process. The application form would be accessible on the city’s website. However, the report also states that the “application group would need to be formalized as part of this process, either through the establishment of a non-profit society or through creation of an operations partnership with an existing local non-profit organization.”

After the application process, a site would be selected and staff would then work to create a site plan and the applicant group would have to enter into a licensing agreement with the city to “ensure there are clear understandings of the terms and conditions for operating the community garden, and to provide proof of the appropriate liability insurance.”

To test the program, staff has selected two sites to run a pilot project. The first is at Greentree Village Park in the southeast corner near the playground. The second site is located at 7679 13th St, near Ernie Winch Park. This plot currently falls under R5 District zoning and would need to be rezoned to P3 District in order to be eligible for the project.

Coun Joe Keithley said the plan is a “great approach” and supported the pilot project.

“…I hope council endorses this because once we get the pilot projects going this year, assuming it passes and all that, then I think we’re going to get a lot more uptake and demand over the next couple of years and [start] trying to get these gardens all over the city,” he said.

Coun Alison Gu had some questions about the applicant group needing to be part of an organization to apply, and if that would impact program accessibility.

Lee-Ann Garnett, deputy general manager of planning and development, explained that to make this more accessible during the pilot, staff are hoping to work with existing community groups that can act as “sponsors, ” such as a neighbourhood house.

“We’ve talked with [existing community groups] and they are willing and interested to take on that role. Sometimes too we get individuals coming forward. …In that case, we would want them to bring forward more members or else we would match them up with another group that we may know. We think it’s important to have some kind of rigour around the group because in the end, someone signs a licence agreement, and takes on some responsibility for operations and maintenance and unfortunately liability.”

Gu said that she felt there were accessibility issues around this point, especially for folks who don’t speak English as their first language. She also questioned how feasible this plan is for non-profit organizations and their capacity.

“I think we try to have non-profits take on a lot of responsibility in a various range of capacities and non-profits are consistently struggling to get reliable funding,” said Gu.

In response, staff said the accessibility factor depends on who comes forward and what neighbourhood they’re from. She said staff will work with specific community organizations tailored to help applicants with language or other accessibility supports if needed.

As for funding, Garnett noted that staff is hoping that the community garden project won’t be too onerous for non-profits to be involved and a staff resource would be potentially put in place to help.

Coun Pietro Calendino asked if there was potential to expand the community garden program to areas like the corridor located between the Cariboo forest.

Heather Edwards, with the parks department, said staff would “definitely like to explore” the use of spaces that are not located in parks but open spaces in the city that can be repurposed.

The report also proposes the creation of a regular full time position within the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department to act as a community garden coordinator.

Edwards explained this dedicated role would help ensure the program runs smoothly, especially at the beginning stages but added that if a full-time position is not required, that individual could work with other environmental programs in the city.

“If we find things are running along swimmingly and we’re not needing that kind of resources in the future we can pull back and reassign their work in different areas,” she said.