You May Soon See A Community Garden

South Pasadena’s Community Garden Ordinance may soon see changes as residents continue to push for one in town.

“We are looking at the draft ordinance that Natural Resource and Environmentaal Commission (NREC) approved,” Parks and Recreation Commission member Ron Rosen told Patch.

“We're also compiling a list of available locations so that we can evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each.”

Plus, the Parks and Recreation Department is exploring possibility working with Edison to install underground power lines—specifically on Park Avenue at the west side of between Oxley Street and Mission Street, which could be a possible location.

“There is much to be done and many issues to be dealt with, but it looks hopeful that finally a community garden will become a reality for South Pas," said advocate Gretchen Robinette. 

The Current Ordinance

The current ordinance is “full of road blocks,” believes Robinette.

So why was it written in the first place?

The process to implement a community garden ordinance was spearheaded by Councilmember Michael Cacciotti in May 2009, and it was formally adopted in December 2009.

Nevertheless: “Staff determined that the Zoning Code did not permit community gardens in [a residential] zone (they were only allowed in the Open Space zone),” said City Manager Sergio Gonzalez.

“The Zoning Code was thus amended to allow community gardens in all zoning districts. And regulations and an approval process were established at the same time (as none existed).”

Creative Funding

the no-banner restrictions written into the current ordinance as a major obstacle in funding.

Yet Alek Bartrosouf of the Los Angeles Community Garden Council says of the 15 community gardens he’s been to, “none of them have corporate sponsor signs on them.”

“Of all the funding opportunities I have seen, none require sponsorship recognition in the form of a sign. There are plenty of funding opportunities and grants out there,” he continued.

Councilmember Marina Khubesrian says one of the goals in South Pasadena is to discourage sign pollution—hence the ordinance about ads and signs.

However, that doesn’t mean that the city couldn’t come up with “a creative public/private approach to accomplish a goal that the community strongly supports, like a ‘community garden,'” she said. 

Robinette would like the new ordinance allow individual groups—such as the —to have community gardens. Nevertheless, she's happy everything in finally "going in the right direction.”

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