Relocation
Help save our garden:
The public hearing for the rezoning of our garden site will restart on July 28th (note the new date) starting at 6pm. The rezoning would allow the "development of a seven-storey residential building containing 123 social housing units be approved in principle".
You can find further information, register to speak at the public hearing, or send in your comments before the meeting by browsing to https://bit.ly/3c6uTBx
All garden members, family, and friends, are encouraged to express an opinion on the development, the impact on our garden, etc. Speaking at the public meeting can be done in-person or by phone.
Help save our garden:
At the Parks Board meeting on Monday, May 16, 2022 the commissioners unanimously voted in favour of adding an amendment to the Trout Lake renewal plan motion. It reads: "THAT the Parks Board asks staff to explore inclusion of community garden plots in the renewal plan."
At the beginning of the meeting, Parks Board staff reported that they had received the following communication in regards to the Trout Lake renewal plan: 3 people were in support of the overall plan, 3 people were opposed to the plan, and 170 people were in support of a community garden in Trout Lake Park.
Although it is yet far from a commitment, it is a step in the right direction. We will be contacting Parks Board to see what the next steps are.
Thank you to everyone who spoke at the Parks Board meeting, sent an email to the commissioners, spread the word, and supported our efforts thus far.
It is through our collective effort that we were able to achieve this. Thank you again!
What we are facing:
We were informed in April 2018 that the Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency (VAHA) are planning to build affordable housing on the current location of the T-section of Cedar Cottage Community Garden and two other empty lots located south of the garden (in June 2019 two additional lots were added to the development, located eastwards of the original development). This will result in the loss of nearly half of the garden's plots, as well as all of our extensive common areas, espalier fence used for soft fruit, and orchard. At the same time it would render gardening in the remaining space extremely challenging due to the dramatic reduction in direct sunlight, as the proposed 6-story building will be located south of the remaining garden area.
Timeline:
Cedar Cottage Community Garden will remain on this site until the housing construction by VAHA begins sometime in the future. The proposed development is currently awaiting a decision on their rezoning application.
Our Response:
An application was submitted to Parks Board in July 2018 to build a community garden at the south-east corner of John Hendry (Trout Lake) park.
Impact Map:
The proposed development is shown in red. We will be losing the entire triangle-shaped section of land along Hull St and Victoria Dr. The space remaining to us would have dramatically reduced direct sunlight.
