Council Gives Garden Park A Green Thumb's Up
City adds a garden park to the five-year strategic plan, putting it on similar footing as the dog park and arena soccer park.
Posted by Martin Henderson (Editor) , July 18, 2013 at 05:47 PM
Dozens of residents descended on the Lake Forest City Council meeting Tuesday like worms on compost.
And by the time they cleared out, they had cast an indelible mark on their city leaders.
A garden party just two weeks in the making, all five council members said they liked the idea of a proposed garden park in the city. One, Adam Nick, was ready to till soil by the end of the week. He said the concept was "a no brainer."
The group was led by Kenton Boettcher, who was speaking on behalf of six people who ceded their time to him. Six other public speakers also presented their case for a garden park to be included in the City's five-year strategic plan, which was the agendized item.
By the end of the discussion, the group had been encouraged to take their case to the Parks and Recreation Commission because that's the natural place for such a project to develop.
However, the council added the garden park to the plan as an unfunded project, and essentially put it on the same playing field as a proposed dog park and a proposed indoor soccer facility.
The proposed location is about six acres of empty space—including sloped land—on the south side of Lake Forest Drive near Dimension, just west of the drive-through Starbucks. It is just below the Whispering Hills community, which also endorses the concept.
However, that space is also being eyed by the other projects, and councilman Peter Herzog was the first to warn that it may or may not be the best location for the community garden and that Parks and Rec should be the next point of contact, which was the majority feeling.
Among the speakers was former councilwoman Marcia Rudolph, who said "this project can be done with minimal City financial support." Boettcher suggested there are various grants, and corporate opportunities, available to fund such a venture.
Boettcher began the groundswell by passing out 1,300 postcards at the Fourth of July Parade. The group's website, LFgardenpark.com, shows what a park might look like, and its Facebook site shows some concepts produced by interior designer Cecilia Ratto and logo produced by her 15-year-old son, Brad Ratto.
"It's a start," Boettcher said of the council's reception. "In a two-week period we went from zero to filling the room. They're very receptive."
The consensus from the dais seemed to be that council members would love for a garden park to be ready by the city's 25th anniversary beginning in December 2016.
"It's truly a park, with pathways and arbors, and someone can take a rest from the urban area," Boettcher said. "The real magic is that it's all-inclusive."
It's a project suitable to young and old, male and female, he said while citing the example of grandparents teaching grandchildren about farming, but also experts demonstrating for children on field trips.
The website says "the Lake Forest Garden Park is to create, promote, stimulate, educate and inspire individuals to the love of gardening."
Boettcher said there were three primary considerations for the park: education, individual plots, and character building.
On the latter, he said the intention is to provide some food to the South County Food Bank, which is located down the street.
Boettcher said a UC Irvine program has already indicated it will lend its support: "Once it's designated as a park, they will walk us through it and help us plan."
"We're talking a Martha Stewart garden, not a weed patch," Boettcher said to the council. "The biggest problem might be having a lottery to dole out the individual parcels.
"There are funding sources, with education, from corporate, for a civic garden."
Mayor Scott Voigts revealed he had studied horticulture in college and even had a compost heap at home.
"Don't be dismayed," Voigts told the group of the council's suggestion to take their plan to Parks and Rec. "Be excited."
Editor's Note: The original story indicated the garden concepts were produced by a student; the Facebook logo was produced by a student, the garden concepts were produced by a professional interior designer.
City adds a garden park to the five-year strategic plan, putting it on similar footing as the dog park and arena soccer park.
Posted by Martin Henderson (Editor) , July 18, 2013 at 05:47 PM
Dozens of residents descended on the Lake Forest City Council meeting Tuesday like worms on compost.
And by the time they cleared out, they had cast an indelible mark on their city leaders.
A garden party just two weeks in the making, all five council members said they liked the idea of a proposed garden park in the city. One, Adam Nick, was ready to till soil by the end of the week. He said the concept was "a no brainer."
The group was led by Kenton Boettcher, who was speaking on behalf of six people who ceded their time to him. Six other public speakers also presented their case for a garden park to be included in the City's five-year strategic plan, which was the agendized item.
By the end of the discussion, the group had been encouraged to take their case to the Parks and Recreation Commission because that's the natural place for such a project to develop.
However, the council added the garden park to the plan as an unfunded project, and essentially put it on the same playing field as a proposed dog park and a proposed indoor soccer facility.
The proposed location is about six acres of empty space—including sloped land—on the south side of Lake Forest Drive near Dimension, just west of the drive-through Starbucks. It is just below the Whispering Hills community, which also endorses the concept.
However, that space is also being eyed by the other projects, and councilman Peter Herzog was the first to warn that it may or may not be the best location for the community garden and that Parks and Rec should be the next point of contact, which was the majority feeling.
Among the speakers was former councilwoman Marcia Rudolph, who said "this project can be done with minimal City financial support." Boettcher suggested there are various grants, and corporate opportunities, available to fund such a venture.
Boettcher began the groundswell by passing out 1,300 postcards at the Fourth of July Parade. The group's website, LFgardenpark.com, shows what a park might look like, and its Facebook site shows some concepts produced by interior designer Cecilia Ratto and logo produced by her 15-year-old son, Brad Ratto.
"It's a start," Boettcher said of the council's reception. "In a two-week period we went from zero to filling the room. They're very receptive."
The consensus from the dais seemed to be that council members would love for a garden park to be ready by the city's 25th anniversary beginning in December 2016.
"It's truly a park, with pathways and arbors, and someone can take a rest from the urban area," Boettcher said. "The real magic is that it's all-inclusive."
It's a project suitable to young and old, male and female, he said while citing the example of grandparents teaching grandchildren about farming, but also experts demonstrating for children on field trips.
The website says "the Lake Forest Garden Park is to create, promote, stimulate, educate and inspire individuals to the love of gardening."
Boettcher said there were three primary considerations for the park: education, individual plots, and character building.
On the latter, he said the intention is to provide some food to the South County Food Bank, which is located down the street.
Boettcher said a UC Irvine program has already indicated it will lend its support: "Once it's designated as a park, they will walk us through it and help us plan."
"We're talking a Martha Stewart garden, not a weed patch," Boettcher said to the council. "The biggest problem might be having a lottery to dole out the individual parcels.
"There are funding sources, with education, from corporate, for a civic garden."
Mayor Scott Voigts revealed he had studied horticulture in college and even had a compost heap at home.
"Don't be dismayed," Voigts told the group of the council's suggestion to take their plan to Parks and Rec. "Be excited."
Editor's Note: The original story indicated the garden concepts were produced by a student; the Facebook logo was produced by a student, the garden concepts were produced by a professional interior designer.
Published: July 17, 2013
Community garden plan welcomed by council
By SARAH de CRESCENZO / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
LAKE FOREST – A crowd of supporters of a plan to turn 6.4 acres of unused city land into a community garden convinced the City Council Tuesday to add the proposal to a list of projects the city might consider in the near future.
The plan would turn empty land on the east side of Lake Forest Drive south of Dimension Drive into a park with 300 individual gardening plots, community gardens that would send produce to local food banks, and educational and demonstration plots.
Lake Forest resident Kenton Boettcher is leading the initiative to convert a plot of city-owned vacant land off Lake Forest Drive near Forest Ridge Drive into a community garden.
JOSH MORGAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Former councilwoman Marcia Rudolph said the council should heed the "groundswell of community support for this option." She said the plan has the potential to develop the land with "minimal to no city financial support."
Ginny Bayliss, president of Lake Forest Garden Club, said she and the club's 140 members are "enthusiastic supporters" of the project. Lois Weiss, another Garden Club member, applauded the "Giving Garden" concept, the name given to plots that would produce food for people in need.
The Whispering Hills Homeowners Association – which oversees the 350-condominium community near the empty acreage – is also on board, President France Imagawa said.
Longtime Lake Forest resident Greg Stevenson, a University of California Master Gardener, said the educational aspect of the park would help residents garden responsibly. If residents learn that, they'll a do a better job of landscaping their homes.
"We have all these new homes coming in, they're going to need to be landscaped," Stevenson said. "We want them to be landscaped in something that looks good, keeping property values up, but also is something that is going to benefit our community in terms of our water resources."
Kenton Boettcher, a longtime Whispering Hills resident who is spearheading the community garden park effort, said he "paid a huge premium to be near the park" when he bought his condominium, but the land has never been developed as previously planned.
A website set up recently to share information about the proposal – lfgardenpark.com – has already received "thousands of hits," Boettcher said.
The council members decided to add the proposal to a list of potential projects that have no timeline or funding associated with them. That puts the proposal on par with two other projects that have been suggested for the land: a dog park and an arena soccer facility.
"We do have some competing interests with that piece of property," Councilman Dwight Robinson said.
The Parks and Recreation Commission should take the lead in determining the best use for that piece of land, Robinson said.
Councilman Adam Nick called the garden park idea a "no-brainer." He said the project likely could be completed in less than two years. Mayor Pro Tem Kathryn McCullough said such a community garden could unite the community.
"The young, the old, the mature, the males, the females and all can get involved," she said.
The council voted 5-0 to refer the plan to the Parks and Recreation Commission for further development.
Contact the writer: 949-454-7307 or sdecrescenzo@ocregister.com
Community garden plan welcomed by council
By SARAH de CRESCENZO / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
LAKE FOREST – A crowd of supporters of a plan to turn 6.4 acres of unused city land into a community garden convinced the City Council Tuesday to add the proposal to a list of projects the city might consider in the near future.
The plan would turn empty land on the east side of Lake Forest Drive south of Dimension Drive into a park with 300 individual gardening plots, community gardens that would send produce to local food banks, and educational and demonstration plots.
Lake Forest resident Kenton Boettcher is leading the initiative to convert a plot of city-owned vacant land off Lake Forest Drive near Forest Ridge Drive into a community garden.
JOSH MORGAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Former councilwoman Marcia Rudolph said the council should heed the "groundswell of community support for this option." She said the plan has the potential to develop the land with "minimal to no city financial support."
Ginny Bayliss, president of Lake Forest Garden Club, said she and the club's 140 members are "enthusiastic supporters" of the project. Lois Weiss, another Garden Club member, applauded the "Giving Garden" concept, the name given to plots that would produce food for people in need.
The Whispering Hills Homeowners Association – which oversees the 350-condominium community near the empty acreage – is also on board, President France Imagawa said.
Longtime Lake Forest resident Greg Stevenson, a University of California Master Gardener, said the educational aspect of the park would help residents garden responsibly. If residents learn that, they'll a do a better job of landscaping their homes.
"We have all these new homes coming in, they're going to need to be landscaped," Stevenson said. "We want them to be landscaped in something that looks good, keeping property values up, but also is something that is going to benefit our community in terms of our water resources."
Kenton Boettcher, a longtime Whispering Hills resident who is spearheading the community garden park effort, said he "paid a huge premium to be near the park" when he bought his condominium, but the land has never been developed as previously planned.
A website set up recently to share information about the proposal – lfgardenpark.com – has already received "thousands of hits," Boettcher said.
The council members decided to add the proposal to a list of potential projects that have no timeline or funding associated with them. That puts the proposal on par with two other projects that have been suggested for the land: a dog park and an arena soccer facility.
"We do have some competing interests with that piece of property," Councilman Dwight Robinson said.
The Parks and Recreation Commission should take the lead in determining the best use for that piece of land, Robinson said.
Councilman Adam Nick called the garden park idea a "no-brainer." He said the project likely could be completed in less than two years. Mayor Pro Tem Kathryn McCullough said such a community garden could unite the community.
"The young, the old, the mature, the males, the females and all can get involved," she said.
The council voted 5-0 to refer the plan to the Parks and Recreation Commission for further development.
Contact the writer: 949-454-7307 or sdecrescenzo@ocregister.com
