Violators can be fined $25,000! City posted a cease-and-desist order at community garden

Discord sprouts from community garden in St. Thomas, Ontario

A bid to open the first such garden in St. Thomas has led to a clash with a neighbour — and rants on the Internet

By Kate Dubinski
The London Free Pree
May 26, 2010

Excerpt:

It started as a plan to plant beets, potatoes and carrots. But all that’s grown in a community garden in St. Thomas has been resentment and animosity.

A zoning infraction, a YouTube video and a death threat are also part of the plot, as a neighbourly project wilts before it gets roots.

“We have a book store owner, an organic gardener, a horticulturalist — we’re not violent people. We’re a group of volunteers who want to grow a garden,” said garden organizer Brigitte Cosens, who says she got the idea to start a community garden in October after attending a how-to workshop in London.

In London, there are dozens of such gardens, most on municipal property.

“I’m extremely surprised it’s gotten to this. It’s silliness,” Cosens said.

At issue is a lot at 26 Isabel St. in St. Thomas.

Cosens approached the owner of the residential lot, nestled between single-family homes, about setting up a community garden there and he agreed.

Cosens sent out flyers to neighbours, tried to see if enough people would be interested in joining and tested the soil.

Before long, she had a waiting list for people who wanted one of the 19 three-by-3.6-metre sections.

“They told us at the workshop in London that you need to have buy-in and people to sustain it,” Cosens said. “We had all that. We have donations, equipment given to us, volunteers who work the sand, a social worker who will distribute anything that needs to be given out.”

But one neighbour, Barbara Ziola, who owns property next to the garden, expressed concern about noise and traffic.

After making presentations at St. Thomas city hall earlier in May, both sides were waiting for the city to act.

City council decided it wants to set up its own community garden pilot project.

But on Friday, the city also posted a cease-and-desist order at the garden because it violates a zoning bylaw in St. Thomas. Violators can be fined $25,000.

See the rest of the article here.

See the St. Thomas Community Garden Facebook page here.