Centretown will lose a bit of its green this spring as the 11-year-old Bytowne Urban Gardens will grow in its new location in the Glebe.
The gardens are currently located on Metcalfe and Catherine Streets and will be moved to the Glebe Memorial Park. The completion of the Beaver Barracks housing project required the relocation of the gardens.
“The Bytowne Urban Garden folks have essentially been kicked out of the garden that they had in the urban area and they’re planning to have the garden in the Glebe Memorial Park,” says Caroline Vanneste, planning committee chair of the Glebe Community Association.
The city has already approved the relocation but the loss of the garden in Centretowne will only be temporary says Colleen Burns, public relations coordinator of BUGs. The Beaver Barracks housing project is designed to have a communal garden in the centre of the location, replacing the green in Centretown.
The Bytowne Urban Garden is a non-profit operation which strives to promote sustainable food production and currently has 29 plots of land. There is no operation fee but volunteers must devote at least 15 hours per season working on the garden. Burns says it is important to have communal gardens around to bring neighbours together and outdoors.
“Community gardens are more than just a place for people to get a space and growth things, they’re really a place where people come together and connect with something real,” she says.
It’s really special whenever you can get a group a people who are coming together to work on a shared project … something really magical can happen and that is what a community garden is all about.”
However, the moving process has raised some concerns for residents around the Glebe Memorial Park. Gary Macdonald, President of Ottawa Internationals Soccer Club, is worried about the lack of park space. Macdonald organizes soccer matches Monday through Thursday for children in the community during the summer which may become cramped.
“With the amount of space we take up … where are they going to put the garden?” says Macdonald. “Are they then going to be complaining all summer that the kid’s soccer balls are going into their garden?”
The city already approving the move but BUGs is hosting several meetings to keep residents informed and involved. Three meetings are scheduled in March and April for residents to participate in the final design of the relocated gardens.
Vanneste says there were originally a meeting scheduled for Glebe residents to raise their concerns but BUGs had too many events already scheduled.
“We had originally planned to have a meeting but because the BUGs people have a number of meetings scheduled in respect of design and because the city has already agreed to it … people with concerns should contact their councilor,” she says.
However, Macdonald is not satisfied with the current schedule. He says the meetings should be focused elsewhere.
“This is all about design, not about appropriate use for a scarce resource,” he says.