Are You Ready for a Community Garden?

Live in an apartment or condo? Own a home but are tight on outdoor space? Don't have room for you own vegetable garden? Novato is getting closer to giving you that chance to turning your thumb green.

If organizers can jump through a few more hoops, a community garden will be built in an undeveloped portion of , next to dog park on Novato Boulevard, about half a mile west of .

The garden design recently passed muster with the city of Novato zoning administrator, and now the focus is on negotiating a lease, setting a review date by the Novato City Council and — as usual — fundraising from private parties and businesses to built the garden.

“There are two hurdles remaining in addition to the fundraising,” said Don Foster, site development coordinator for the garden project. “Community gardens only work when there’s a cooperative effort all the way around, including from the city. They’re not cutting any slack.”

Foster said the organizers from the nonprofit Novato Live Well Network need to raise $5,000 to pay for mediation in the lease negotiations. The city, which has been forced to cut millions from its budget the past few years and has reduced parks & rec staff, must account for every dollar.

Friends of the dog park objected to some of the garden plans earlier this year, but the zoning administrator approved plans originally discussed by the Novato City Council three years ago. City planners arranged two facilitated meetings between garden representatives and members of Friends of Dogbone Meadow, according to a release. A new garden design plan, suggested by the Friends of Dogbone Meadow, was accepted with enthusiasm by the Novato Community Garden Committee.

Next, the city parks staff is working on a staff report to share with the Novato City Council. Foster said he was unsure about when the item will be on a council agenda.

Foster said Dietrich Stroeh of engineering firm has been an immense help to the garden project and more contributors are being sought. Help is needed on “all sorts of construction … time, materials and energy,” he said. Autodesk donated a computer graphics system worth nearly $5,000 to help Foster design the site.

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CAN YOU HELP?

Anyone who can volunteer or help recruit businesses who might be able to defer costs for the community garden project can call Don Foster at 419-7323. For more information, check the Novato Live Well Network.