An array of local community gardens are permitted to continue to grow for at least another year in Jersey City.
The Jersey City Municipal Council unanimously approved a series of ordinances that approved the renewal of a number of leases for community gardens across the City.
At its April 9 meeting, the City Council approved six ordinances authorizing the execution of lease renewals with the respective neighborhood associations or entities that operate the gardens on municipal-owned land.
The City allows non-profits to lease vacant city-owned lots and open space for community gardening and recreation purposes through the “Adopt A Lot” program, according to the ordinances. The caveat, though is that community gardens are not allowed to be used for any commercial, business trade, manufacture, wholesale, retail or any other profit-driven enterprises.
The ordinances renewed leases with: Jersey City Community Gardening, Inc. for Brunswick Community Garden at 174-176 Brunswick Street; Dwight Street Block Association for the Dwight Street Garden at 185 Dwight Street; Greater Neighborhood Alliance for the Greenville Neighborhood Alliance (GNA) Community Garden at 81 Garfield Avenue; Greater Neighborhood Alliance for Mandela Lot at 447 Martin Luther King Drive; and Riverview Neighborhood Association for Ogden’s End Community Garden at 100 Ogden Avenue.
In addition, there was one new lease approved with 167 McAdoo Avenue Condominium Association for a new community garden at 142 McAdoo Avenue. Meanwhile, the other community gardens have been around for a while: Brunswick Community Garden was established in 2000; Dwight Street Garden in 2021; GNA Community Garden in 2021; Mandela Lot since at least 2018; and Ogden’s End Community Garden since 2012.
All of the leases are retroactive, beginning from February 15 of this year and lasting one year until 2026. They are all for the cost of $1 annually, a charge intended to improve the city’s efforts on expanding more ground work for gardening.
Local resident Phillip Carrington, during the public hearing for the ordinance related to Mandela Lot, spoke in favor of the lease renewal and praised Sharon Felton for her work related to the garden.
“I am very pleased with Sharon Felton and her group for keeping this garden up,” Carrington said. “I would be remiss if I didn’t speak on this… It is very, very good. It brings oxygen into that area that’s right next to me. There’s a whole lot of funky behavior in my neighborhood. We need fresh air here.”
“Thank you to all the organizations that have these community gardens,” Councilwoman-at-Large Amy DeGise said.
In addition to providing more green space in local neighborhoods across Jersey City, the community gardens also serve an educational purpose. Oftentimes, local children and school kids participate in upkeeping the garden and learn about the practice as well as about the produce they grow on the property.
There are 23 community gardens across Jersey City in total, with some being leased from the City through the Adopt A Lot program and others being private, but they all serve the purpose of helping to educate the public and provide opportunities for recreational gardens in neighborhoods throughout every ward.
There will likely be more ordinances related to the renewal or approval of leases for these open spaces at the next council meetings as old agreements continue to expire and new gardens are founded.
