SNA President Dean Weinberg, right center, presides at the voting to approve the garden board and bylaws.
The long-awaited plots in the community garden in the Summit Avenue city park finally have real people dedicated to bringing them to fruition.
At a public meeting Monday, Jan. 10 at Summit Commons, 99 Hillside Ave., bylaws were adopted, a governing board was elected and people who wanted plots received their allocations. There were a total of 25 households that wanted space and there were 25 locations available in the current design of the garden, so a proposed lottery for plots did not have to be held. If more space is deemed available in the future, more gardeners could be recruited.
The next step is for the group to plan the actual construction of the raised beds, so details of that process are being worked out. A meeting of the governing council will probably be held in late January or early February. The slate of officers elected at the initial meeting include Nancy Buron as chair, Read Porter as vice chair with Doug Itkin and Annie Voss-Altman to be secretary and treasurer.
The organization will continue to be a legal subsidiary of the Summit Neighborhood Association until it can stand alone. It is now developing its own web site and is contacting the gardeners so they may sign a gardening contract, get a copy of the newly minted bylaws and pay the membership fee.
The garden development is one phase of the city Parks Department’s proposed refurbishment of the surrounding “tot lot” playground and SNA will also continue to support that plan.
