Community Garden Members Plan to Show in Numbers at City Council Meeting

Local green thumbs are taking note of Thursday’s City Council meeting.

A group of residents involved with the Seminole Heights Community Gardens is expected to show up to the 5 p.m. meeting, clad in green shirts and voicing support for what they say is a more reasonable fee for the proposed regulation of community gardens.

The city has been considering a new regulation process in an effort to protect owners of neighboring properties.

“One of the reasons the ordinance has changed is because a handful of people have said that they want a public hearing process put in place,” Robin Milcowitz, an organizer of Seminole Heights Community Gardens, wrote in an e-mail to local gardeners. “This made the permit fee jump to $2,000.  It also now requires city staff, City Council and the people trying to start a garden to do a lot of, what I believe, is overly burdensome work, some of which could require community gardens to spend even more money.”

Administrative approval would take minimal time and would cost the city about $200, Cathy Coyle, the city’s zoning administrator, previously told Patch.com.

But applying for a special use permit for a garden is more complicated and requires a public hearing. It can involve land surveys and cost applicants about $2,015.

Milcowitz said some City Council members have said such a figure is cost-prohibitive and that they would be in favor of looking at a $200 fee instead.

“I want to make sure nothing goes wrong and that it’s not voted the other way,” Milcowitz said of Thursday’s expected attendance by community garden enthusiasts. “We’re just trying to make a lot of people go in there and show that we can’t have such a high cost.”

The reason a public hearing is being pitched as a requirement is because recent proposals for community gardens have included portable toilets and the sale of alcoholic beverages. This led some to believe nearby landowners deserve more of a say about what is ultimately developed.