Downtown Community Garden At Risk

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) After 25 years of leasing land on 4th East for locals to plant and harvest, Wasatch Community Gardens is under a deadline to either the buy the property or make way for development. The price tag is 250-thousand dollars - a tall order for the tiny nonprofit, says director Emily Aagard:

"Our annual budget is 200-thousand dollars a year!," says Aagard. "The largest project we funded was and 80-thousand-dollar greenhouse. This is a lot more money than we have ever attempted to raise."

Aagard says Wasatch Community Gardens tried to purchase the land a year ago, but the owner took a higher offer from the Community Development Corporation, or CDC. Director Darin Brush says the CDC didn't learn of the Garden's interest in buying the property until after the sale. Now he says the CDC has given Wasatch Community Gardens a right of first refusal on the land.

Aagard was banking on support from the Salt Lake City Open Space Fund, but the advisory board balked at the Garden's price tag and recently asked for another appraisal. That's a move Aagard applauds:

"We could not figure out why this wasn't something they embarked upon back when we were wanting to buy the property initially," says Aagard. "And we're really grateful that they've finally decided to - instead of nebulously determing what land values should be - get some concrete information from a source that they trust."

The Salt Lake City Open Space fund could only offer half of the appraised value in the form of a matching grant. Aagard's hoping private donations and foundation grants will come through with the remaining money to keep the three-quarter acre garden blooming downtown.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2009 KCPW