Montgomery County Department of Parks gave Silver Spring residents the opportunity to voice their opinions on using County parkland for community gardens at a public meeting on Monday, November 8.

David Vismara, Chief of the Department's Horticultural Services Division opened the meeting at the Takoma Park Campus of Montgomery College by offering the 14 attendees a historical review of the County's Community Gardens Program. Vismara also shared a recent inquiry from Councilmember Valerie Irvin, wondering if some of the county park areas could be used for community gardens. 

The specific area the meeting focused on the Fenton Street Urban Park in Silver Spring - an area bordered by Fenton Street, Philadelphia Avenue, Richmond Street and Burlington Avenue.

Ursula Sabia Sukinik, Community Garden Coordinator, Horticultural Services Division, continued with a visual presentation of existing community gardens, explaining the process of applying for a plot in one of the community gardens, as well as the responsibilities associated with them. She explained that plots in these gardens are extremely popular and a waiting list of more than 200 currently exists. The Department hopes to have another garden open in the spring of 2011 – either at the Fenton Street location or at King Street and Eastern Avenue.

The County does have plans to put the entire application and renewal process online in the coming weeks, negating the need for paper registrations and a garden-by-garden waiting list. The website will feature information about which plots are available, visual layouts of the plots and other relevant information.

Attendees raised concerns such as the sense in planning a garden next to a busy intersection, how to prevent theft and other security issues and what the long term plans for the space are.

"In terms of security, most of our gardens have 7-foot-high deer fencing, with padlocked gates," Sukinik replied. Vismara added, "we bring activity to the area, and just having activity in the area serves as a deterrent – we bring a presence to these locations."

Vismara admitted that the soil at the proposed location has not been tested yet, which raised a few eyebrows in the room. Silver Spring resident Annlinn Kruger asked about the possibility of having a container garden in the location if the soil is not appropriate for in-ground gardening.

Sukinik replied  that the "containers cost between $250-300 each, plus the cost of the deer fencing, and we may determine that our funds may be better used elsewhere."

Takoma Park residents took matters into their own hands for the Maple Avenue community garden, paying for the containers and deer fencing.

Most attendees seemed pleased with the presentation, asking no questions at the end. Sukinik shared the same opinion.

"I thought the biggest concern raised was that this may be just a temporary garden, but overall the community feedback was very positive."

Sukinik invites commentary from all community residents via email at Ursula.sabiasukinik@montgomeryparks.org.