Appendix I-1 – Evidence and Precedence:

This proposal aligns with existing policy and plans of both the NCC and the City of Ottawa, and contributes to both organizations meeting their sustainability goals.

NCC’s Environmental Goals

The NCC’s environmental strategy defines five action areas aligned with the organization’s core operations. These include enhancing biodiversity on NCC lands, using leading environmental practices in visible areas of high environmental importance, and reducing the carbon footprint of “all aspects of its business”[10]. Establishing community gardens could enhance biodiversity through the planting of diverse species, serve as a visible demonstration of innovative and sustainable land use, and enable the production of more local food.

NCC’s Real Asset Management goals

In addition to meeting many goals of the NCC’s environmental strategy, community gardens also provide an opportunity to optimize the contribution of the NCC’s physical assets to further enhance the natural environment of Canada’s National Capital Region.  Through the partnerships described in this proposal, this can be done with little to no overhead, while ensuring that the assets are appropriately accessible to the public.

Ottawa Greenbelt Master Plan Review 

The Greenbelt, while not the only option for locating new community gardens, is of particular interest given its intended uses. The NCC’s website defines the Greenbelt as “a place where Canadians can experience their rural roots and natural heritage and where sustainable farming and forestry can be practised”. The Greenbelt Master Plan Summary (1996, p.8) describes the Greenbelt as a national asset that is “a living demonstration of Canada’s concern for the environment, and promotes Canada’s green image abroad”. The Plan also states that “The Greenbelt will be used extensively for ecological research and education (p. 12)”.

Creating new community gardens on NCC land would address all five themes that emerged from a public workshop hosted by the NCC in November 2009 as part of the Greenbelt Master Plan review:

• improving ecological connectivity within and outside of the Greenbelt;
• activating citizen participation and stewardship of the Greenbelt;
• providing opportunities for sustainable agriculture and local food production;
• using the Greenbelt as an environmental showcase for sustainable best practices;
• maintaining ongoing partnerships through open communication between Greenbelt tenants, government agencies, municipal partners, the public and other interested stakeholders.

 

The Central Experimental Farm

The Central Experimental Farm (CEF) in Ottawa is both a National Historic Site and an active research centre[11]. The CEF’s 427 hectares of agricultural land serve as a public space of recreation and education. The Dominion Arboretum, Ornamental Gardens, and the Canada Agriculture Museum already act as excellent educational sites that showcase past agricultural innovation. The volunteer organization, Friends of the Central Experimental Farm (FCEF), which cares for the Arboretum and Ornamental Gardens among other public areas of the CEF, works to “preserve, maintain, protect and enhance this beautiful and historic green space.”[12] Expanding urban agriculture and community gardening on NCC lands can build upon the CEF’s tradition of learning and experimentation.

 

Choosing our Future

The NCC and the City of Ottawa, along with the City of Gatineau, have embarked on a joint planning process to develop a long-range sustainability strategy for the National Capital Region, known as Choosing our Future (CoF). This strategy could serve as a vehicle to support a long-term partnership on community gardens between the NCC and City of Ottawa.

The strategy is intended to increase awareness of the limits of our natural resources and our environment, as well as community and municipal action that can contribute to the mitigation of climate change. CoF aims to implement sustainable practices such as planning land for mixed uses to reduce car trips; using resources more efficiently; using natural systems in ways that ensure continued health and productivity; and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. Under its Principles and Goals, CoF also sets a goal of a sustainable local food system that provides residents with healthy, affordable food.

Creating new community gardens allows residents to produce their own food organically and close to home, and could help the NCC and the City of Ottawa to meet the goals described in Choosing our Future.

 

 

Ottawa 20/20

The City of Ottawa’s Environmental Strategy, Ottawa 20/20, sets out the city’s first Corporate Environmental Action Plan for the period of 2004-2008 (and is currently under review). This plan commits the City to demonstrate and promote leadership in environmental stewardship (p.33), including the promotion of land stewardship and sustainable land management throughout the community.

 

City of Ottawa’s 2009 Community Garden Action Plan

The Community Garden Action Plan notes that for older adults, gardening is an excellent physical activity. The growing population of seniors in Ottawa, coupled with growing interest in participating in gardening will add to the demand for community gardens. The continued intensification of the urban core and decreased access to individual garden space has added to and will continue to put additional pressure on the need for more community garden space.

Under the Community Garden Action Plan there is an established process to identify surplus City land for community garden development and community gardens are included in the evaluation of priority use of City surplus land. However, demands from the community for community garden space are increasing, particularly in the urban core where there is limited availability of surplus City land. This highlights the importance of prioritizing urban NCC lands for garden sites as well as in the Greenbelt.

Recommendation 1(b) of the Community Garden Action Plan commits specific City departments (Planning and Growth Management – Planning, Environment and Infrastructure Policy Branch, and Community and Protective Services – Cultural Services and Community Funding) to collaborate with the Community Garden Network (CGN), through the City of Ottawa staff liaison, to identify opportunities where community gardens may be established on non-City owned space and / or adjacent to non-City owned facilities.

Other precedents:

As the NCC is a federal agency unique to the National Capital Region, it is difficult to find similar policies in other Canadian communities. However, using high-profile public land for community gardens is gaining ground with municipal and federal governments. The NCC’s commitment to fostering a green and sustainable Capital Region can go beyond the Greenbelt surrounding the city and into the heart of urban Ottawa by supporting community gardens.

For example, the City of Vancouver established a community garden in the spring of 2009 at Vancouver’s City Hall. As part of Vancouver’s pledge to create 2010 new garden plots by the 2010 Olympics, 30 plots were created in a new, organic community garden on the north lawn of City Hall. Part of the produce from the garden was donated to inner-city shelters.

At the federal level, Parks Canada recently designated community gardens as an allowable use of their lands. They describe a community garden as ‘a site operated and maintained by committed volunteers where a publicly owned parcel of land is used for growing ornamentals and/or produce for non-commercial use through individual and common (community garden) or entirely shared plots (collective garden)’.

Another notable precedent was set when Michelle Obama, the wife of President Barack Obama, established an organic vegetable garden in 2009 on the White House lawn in the United States.  The 1,000 pounds of food harvested in 2009 fed many people, both at the White House and at nearby homeless shelters. Equally importantly, it has stimulated a national conversation about healthy eating, and has been used to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become major issues.  Encouraged by their gardening success in their first year, the Obamas and their staff expanded their organic edible garden by 400 square feet in 2010, raising the total growing space to 1,500 square feet.  Local elementary school children participated in the planting both years.

Even H. M. Queen Elizabeth II has installed a vegetable patch in the gardens at Buckingham Palace.  In 2009, vegetables were grown on the Palace grounds for the first time since the Victory Gardens war effort of World War II, alongside ornamental plants[13]. All of the vegetables in the 8 by 10 yard patch are grown organically by the Royal Family’s gardeners. The move comes amid a surge in demand from people in the United Kingdom to have their own allotment to grow their own food during the recession.

Finally, some land conservancies are utilizing space as community gardens. For example, the Cascade Land Conservancy in Washington, United States has seven gardens and in 2010 hired a full-time gardening coordinator to support the Conservancy’s gardens as well as other community gardens throughout the Tacoma area[14].

Appendix I-2– The Community Gardening Network: Context and Budget

Context of the Community Gardening Network

The Community Gardening Network (CGN) is a project within Just Food.  The CGN works closely with the City of Ottawa’s Community Garden Liaison and the community volunteers to start-up, resource and fund new community garden projects and to maintain already established community gardens around the City.

The coordinator of the CGN works out of Just Food.  It is the role of the coordinator to work with the community volunteer garden coordinators to ensure that they are successful with their community gardening projects. This is done through offering a series of resources to the gardens that they can take advantage of.  Fiscal resources are available to the gardens in the form of the Community Garden Development Fund (CGDF).  This annual fund of $75,000 was created in 2009 by the City of Ottawa, to be managed out of the Just Food office, to start new community gardening projects, as well as, to expand and enhance the network of existing gardens.  Skills building resources are available for the gardens to use in the form of the gardening workshop series; beginner level organic gardening, pest control, seed saving, composting and food preservation workshops are free to all community garden members.  Along with the gardening workshop series, a How to Start a Community Garden workshop is offered 3 times per year for those who are interested in starting new community garden projects, and a tutorial on How to Apply to the Community Garden Development Fund is offered once per year.

It is also the role of the Community Gardening Network Coordinator to liaise with the City to determine processes when working with City properties or when the community garden coordinators have questions that are City-related.  There is a dedicated Community Garden Liaison at the City of Ottawa.  It is the responsibility of the liaison to advocate for community gardening at City level and to support community gardening projects through gathering of information and consultation with appropriate departments when questions regarding city-related matters occur.  It is also the responsibility of the liaison to work with the Community Gardening Network and the CGN Coordinator to work out processes and procedures to install community gardens onto City sites.

The City of Ottawa Community Garden Liaison sits on the Allocations Committee, along with the CGN Coordinator and 3 volunteer garden coordinators, to make decisions around allocating the Community Garden Development Fund when all of the applications are received.

The volunteer community garden coordinators are the keys to successful gardens and the network.  These are community members who volunteer their time, and most of their summer, to handle the daily management of the gardens at the sites.  Their responsibilities include organizing garden members to fill the garden plots, allocating plots, organizing garden meetings, determining garden opening and closing practices, enforcing garden rules.  As well, these volunteer coordinators attend CGN events, such as the bi-annual meeting and volunteer on committees, such as the Community Garden Development Fund Allocations Committee.

Community Gardening Network Budget

The Community Garden development fund allocated from City budget = $75,000 + staff time (annually). In 2011:

• Community Garden Development Fund (CGDF) was worth $78,413 (annual renewal fund of $75,000)

Of the $78,413:

• $12,750 went to administering the fund (CGN coordinator’s salary portion)
• $5,000 is retained for garden emergencies. Any unused portion of this $5,000 gets rolled back into the fund for re-allocation for other garden or CGN projects, to be used before Dec. 15.
• $5,000 is held and used to go for printing items and promotion of the CGDF.
• The remaining $55,663.00 went to supporting both new garden start-up projects as well as existing garden projects.

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