Badger School for Urban Agriculture and Community

See larger image of the plan here.

A project that will transform a vacant school building on Madison’s Southside into a state-of-the art urban agriculture and community center campus.

The exterior areas of the site will include the following components:

Community Gardens serving the local neighborhood

Education Gardens serving as an outdoor classroom for students from around Dane County

Edible Landscape including perennials such as nut and fruit trees and berries

Innovative Storm Water Management that views stormwater as a resource

Rain Gardens for infiltration of stormwater

Permeable Surfaces for parking and walkways to increase stormwater infiltration

See larger image of the plan here.

In collaboration with the City of Madison, adjoining lands owned by the City of Madison will feature:

Floating Growing Platforms which rise and fall with stormwater levels, and which are self-irrigating

Permaculture Wet Prairie to increase stormwater infiltration and to restore natural ecology

Sculpture Garden and Walking Path for reflection and rejuvenation

See Badger School website here.

Badger School building may become green campus

By MATTHEW DeFOUR
Sept 16, 2009
Wisconsin State Journal

A boarded-up school building on Madison’s South Side could soon be transformed into a world-class urban agriculture and green design campus.

The Madison-based Center for Resilient Cities has proposed buying the four-acre property and former Badger School building at 501 E. Badger Road from Dane County for $500,000.

The non-profit urban renewal organization plans to work with elected officials, businesses and residents in the Moorland-Rimrock and Southdale neighborhoods to redevelop the land for urban agriculture. The building will likely be refurbished as a community center with a focus on conservation education and alternative energy, and will have a rooftop greenhouse.

“This will be community driven, it will be universally accessible, everything will have a mind toward conservation and sustainability,” executive director Tom Dunbar said. Other partners include the Madison Area Community Land Trust and Milwaukee-based Growing Power.

Pending County Board approval of the sale, the first step will be to convert the surrounding lawn into community gardens by next spring, Dunbar said. The building could be refurbished in 2011.

The building was built in 1957 as a Madison elementary school and used for county social services from 1978 until 2007.

The cost of refurbishing the building is similar to tearing it down and building a new facility, though because the center is focused on conservation, the rehabilitation option is more likely, Dunbar said.
He wouldn’t disclose the estimated cost, though he didn’t rule out the need for private donations or public funds.

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said the proposal was the highest of three bids and also the best vision for the property.

“It’s easy to build something on a corn field,” Falk said. “I give them credit for showing that the right thing to do is to renovate or at least re-use existing materials.”

The community center would be located in the city of Madison, but also would serve the Southdale neighborhood, which will become part of Fitchburg by 2022.

Mayor Jay Allen said Fitchburg had planned to buy the property, but after learning about the Resilient Cities proposal, decided not to submit an application to the county. “This is what we would have liked to see there,” he said.

See article here.

Community land trusts promote urban agriculture

As a new section of the website of the National Community Land Trust Network demonstrates, an increasing number of community land trusts, best known for their support of permanently affordable home ownership using a model of shared equity housing, are also supporting the development of urban agriculture, as well as the stewardship of green space in urban areas.

See complete blog article here.