Plans for a third community garden in the area
Over 80 people attended the informational meeting to hear a proposal about the feasibility of creating of a third community garden in this northeast area of Dallas.
The Lake Highlands Community Garden, located behind the old Armory on Goforth, and the Highlands Christian Church garden on McCree Road are the two existing community gardens.
Kimberly Haley-Coleman organized the meeting. For the last several years, she’s been the initiator behind the effort to create a community garden in the White Rock area.
Also in attendance was Dirt Doctor Howard Garrett, responsible for drafting a master plan and lending his hand as consultant, Amanda Vanhoozier, the City Liaison for the Coppell Community Garden, and John Jenkins, Assistant Director of Recreation and Maintenance Services with the Dallas Parks and Recreation Department.
The purpose of meeting was to address the potential location for the new community garden and to provide an opportunity for residents to hear the overall concept, get their questions answered, and voice their concerns.
Over the last several years Haley-Coleman has been inspired to organize a community garden.
“I’m not a gardener, never have been. But my mother Margie Haley is an avid gardener - not just veggies but bees and chickens too! She has a plot at the Highlands Christian Church garden and takes my kids there. They love spending time with her at the garden and eating fresh veggies that they pick.”
She’s cataloged feedback from many neighbors interested in establishing a community garden, herself among them. “I’m not alone in my desire for a garden - there are many in our community who want to establish one, and there have been a number of attempts at establishing a community garden in this area, most notably by Jan Worthington.”
With a background in non-profit administration, Haley-Coleman took on the task of getting advice from organizers of established community gardens, securing Howard Garrett as a consultant, meeting with city officials, and raising private funding. And the funding is impressive.
“We have budgeted $200,000, all privately raised, with no burden to tax payers," she explains. "The majority of funds are committed by private Lakewood residents, with some committed by Texans interested in promoting more gardens."
"We want this to be the most gorgeous garden of its kind. And we’ve already got 501(c)3 status through a non-profit that Howard currently runs.”
Haley-Coleman was also determined to find a location that the city agreed would work, and that was no small task. The City axed the list of five or six locations she scouted. In turn, they gave her a short list, stressing that they didn’t want the proposed garden visible from main traffic access.
After 2 ½ years, an agreeable location was secured - a two acre plot of land, largely unused for the past 70 years. But it was the location, that made the January 7th meeting a contentious one, and the majority of the attendees were an organized group of detractors.
The proposed piece of land is located where Dalgreen deadends into Dominque in a subdivision known as Maplewood. It is bordered by trees on two sides, with an unused railroad median on a third side. It has one point of entry off of Dalgreen.
According to Haley-Coleman, there are about 110 supporters of a community garden in the Lakewood area, about 25 of them from within Maplewood itself. Maplewood is an older, well established neighborhood with about 90 homes, is off the beaten path, and residents there enjoy their privacy.
There are a few homes that abut the property, and it was these homeowners who were most vocal. While Haley-Coleman knew going in it would be a challenge to find a location that everyone could agree upon, those against this location made their displeasure clear even before she could complete her opening presentation.
Comments from the detractors included:
“There are lots of other places to put this garden. We want to keep our neighborhood left as it is.”
“Nobody in the neighborhood wants this.”
“We’re united on this issue.”
“If you try to come into our neighborhood, we will try to stop you any way we can.”
