The Fairhope City Council is scheduled to consider a resolution supporting a community garden at Stimpson Field at the City Council meeting at 6pm this Monday, January 25.
At 5:15pm there will be a City Council work session at which the resolution will be discussed and perhaps voted on - or an alternative proposal presented (see next paragraph). The work session is scheduled to be held in the Council Chamber, and is open to the public. Supporters of a community garden at Stimpson Field are encouraged to attend.
The Local Food Production Initiative has learned that Charles Langham of the Parks and Recreation Board has been working very hard behind the scenes on an alternate plan to use the site behind the K-1 Center - not the kids park, but the vacant lot that backs on to the gully on the other side of Summit Street from the K-1 Center. Mr. Langham has apparently been working with Mayor Kant and said that the City has agreed to install water to this alternative site and to level the site and build a fence along the berm & gully.
The parcel, reportedly owned by the Board of Education, has some advantages and some disadvantages. For example there is adequate adjacent parking, but the underlying soil is clay and the site would need stormwater drainage installed, keeping the berm but installing features such as a grassed swale around the perimeter after hauling the dirt and installing the garden.
The first choice remains Stimpson Field, but it will be up to the City Council to make the final decision. LFPI members and friends are encouraged to come to the working group at 5:15 since the Council is scheduled to discuss Stimpson Field, and the Parks and Recreation Board alternative will also be presented there by Charles Langham and, possibly, by other City officials.
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