Oakdale Council Not Sold on Community Garden

Is constructing a community garden within the role of government?

Oakdale Mayor Carmen Sarrack asked the question at a workshop meeting Tuesday during a discussion on whether the city should establish a community garden at .

“I guess I get to the point where, how much do the people of this country want to depend on the government to do everything?” Sarrack said. 

If apartment building residents wanted a community garden, they could ask their building management to establish one onsite, keeping city land and money out of it, he said.

Sarrack and other council members raised questions about whether a community garden was worth the cost and sufficiently in-demand during the discussion, while parks commission and city staff members said many of the costs would be one-time, and similar gardens have been popular elsewhere.

The proposed garden would cost up to $6,000 and contain 16 10-by-13 foot plots for rent during the summer growing season, according to a city staff report. The largest cost would be running a water line to the site for $3,500, the report says.

Council member Paul Reinke said he likes the community-building aspect of the idea, but has reservations about adding anything to city staff’s workload.

“Why are we taking on something else when we’ve said we’re not going to do that this year?” Reinke said. “It’s not a bad deal by any means. Maybe the timing just isn’t right.”

He also questioned whether the garden was worth the cost, saying the money could be put toward something like lifeguards at Beach and serve more people.

“At the end of the day, I look at the priorities, where if I’ve got $5,500 bucks to spend on something, I would feel better about leveraging it someplace else,” he said.

Sarrack and council member Lori Pulkrabek also questioned the per-person cost.

“I just keep coming back to the fact that this is benefiting such a small number of people,” Pulkrabek said. “In my opinion it’s just not hitting enough people to justify the cost.”

Parks commission members countered the concerns over costs.

Unlike paying for lifeguards, the majority of the costs to construct a community garden would just be first-year startup costs, said parks commission member Frank Tschida. After the first year, the rental fees would cover any maintenance costs, and eventually might bring in some revenue, said Community Development Specialist Logan Martin.

It’s possible the program could expand in future years to benefit more than 16 gardeners if there’s a demand for it, said parks commission member Michael Wiener.

Community gardens have been popular in other communities, Martin said. Roseville has a waiting list for their community garden plots, he said.

Still council members said they haven’t heard constituents ask for a community garden in Oakdale.

Council member Stan Karwoski said he supports the project, but wants some kind of assurance that people would use it before paying the startup costs.

“I really like the idea of saying it’s based on getting people to commit,” he said.

Council and parks commission members said they’d like to see more data on how many people are interested in using a community garden.  

Martin said he could solicit feedback at the city’s Home Improvement Fair, on March 24.

Karwoski suggested going to nearby apartment buildings as well.

By the time the data is collected, it will likely be too late to construct a community garden for this growing season, said City Administrator Craig Waldron, but he suggested that the council could consider the idea for next year.