[Community_garden] Tommy Thompson Garden preserved in perpetuity

[adam36055 at aol.com]

Jim, 
 
Congratulations! 
 
Your gardener's active advocacy of the Tommy Thompson Garden, the support of the surrounding community, the Burlington Electric Dept.,  the Burlington Parks and Recreation Department, the Intervale Center and the City Council representatives that voted in favor of the garden were all part of this astounding victory. 
 
Burlington saved this garden. And it should feel really proud of what it has done. 
 
 
The real work is making those who voted against the garden your friends and supporters,  and to continue to widen  the circle of support that saved your garden.  
 
You've done it right - thank you for providing us a good example of how its done. 
 
Adam Honigman
 
 
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: jimf at burlingtongardens.org
To: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
Sent: Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:04 AM
Subject: [Community_garden] Tommy Thompson Garden preserved in perpetuity


October 24, 2006

Dear ACGA colleagues,

This past summer a news story circulated on the ACGA list serv regarding the
potential sale of publicly owned land in Burlington's Intervale. The story
was of particular interest as the parcel of land to be sold included the
five acre Tommy Thompson Community Garden, which is the largest community
garden in Vermont.

During the past four months of advocacy, public input, and negotiations, an
easement protecting the community garden in perpetuity at its existing
location was added to the land sale Memorandum of Agreement. The easement is
in addition to a larger farmland easement that conserves the organic farms
located in the Intervale on the 199 acre parcel of land.

The Tommy Thompson Community Garden, with its 150 plots, will continue to be
managed by the Burlington Parks and Recreation Department. While the land
for the five acre garden site will be transferred from the city owned
Burlington Electric Department to the nonprofit Intervale Center, the Parks
and Recreation Department will retain access to the land and ownership of
all improvements on the garden site.

The passage of the land sale agreeement, as highlighted in the article below
in today's Burlington Free Press, represents a win-win partnership for
organic farming and community gardening in Burlington. Previously, the Tommy
Thompson garden had a nine year lease with Burlington Electric; as a result
of last night's City Council vote, the community garden site is now
protected in perpetuity.

Jim Flint, Executive Director
Friends of Burlington Gardens
33 Tracy Drive
Burlington, VT  05408
802.658.5733
www.burlingtongardens.org


Burlington City Council approves Intervale land sale
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061024/NEWS02/610240307/1007

Published: Tuesday, October 24, 2006
By John Briggs
Free Press Staff Writer

The administration of Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss won a solid victory Monday
night when the City Council approved the sale of 199 acres of city-owned
land in the Intervale to the non-profit Intervale Center. The vote was 7-5.
The sale of the land for $200,000 seemed at times over the last two months
to be headed for delay if not defeat in the council, as some complained that
the price was too low and the sale unnecessary.

Kiss won over the influential Friends of Burlington Gardens group by
negotiating language in a memorandum of agreement with the Intervale Center
that guaranteed the Tommy Thompson Community Garden, located on the sale
land, would stay where it is "in perpetuity" and with a possibility in the
future to expand.

The Community and Economic Development Office made a question and answer
sheet on the transaction available at meetings and on its Web site, also
posted the agreement and created a newspaper insert. As the information
about the sale became easily available to residents, much of the opposition
melted away. Few residents attended the last public meeting, held Oct. 4 in
Contois Auditorium.

The land is owned by the Burlington Electric Department, and much of the
sale land has been leased by the Intervale Center from BED since 1996. The
Intervale Center, under the terms of that lease, had the right of first
refusal when BED decided to sell the land. The land will continue to be used
for agricultural development.

The city won another concession from the purchaser by holding on to an
undivided 1 percent ownership of the land, which means in practice that the
city would be involved in a future sale of the land. The city would have the
first opportunity to buy the land back. The council also will have a
representative on the Intervale Center's board, and its management plan for
the land must be approved by the council every 10 years.

While opponents on the council argued that the city should retain the land
and explore giving the Intervale Center a long-term lease, Kiss said BED
couldn't give the city title to the land; instead, it must sell it for the
benefit of BED ratepayers, meaning the city would have to find the money for
the purchase. The Intervale Center argued in public meetings and in
information sheets that ownership of the land would enhance its ability to
raise grant money for continued agricultural improvements. Over time, the
adjustments to the memorandum of agreement and the continued involvement of
the public convinced a majority of councilors that the sale made sense.

Monday, those voting in support of the sale were: Council President Ian
Carleton, D-Ward 1; Jane Knodell, P-Ward 2; Cheryl McDonough, P-Ward 2; Tim
Ashe, P-Ward 3; Clarence Davis, P-Ward 3; Russ Ellis, D-Ward 4; and Barbara
Perry, I, Ward 6. Voting against the sale were: Kurt Wright, R-Ward 4; Bill
Keogh, D-Ward 5; Joan Shannon, D-Ward 5; Andy Montroll, D-Ward 6; and Carmen
George, D-Ward 7. Sharon Bushor, I-Ward 1, who supported the sale, and Paul
Decelles, R-Ward 7, who opposed it, were absent.



_______________________________________________
The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's 
services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out 
how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org

To post an e-mail to the list:  community_garden at list.communitygarden.org

To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription:  http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
________________________________________________________________________
Check out the new AOL.  Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20061025/cd0c8551/attachment.html