Canada: Development plans have Vancouver community garden looking for a new home

The Cedar Cottage Community Garden in East Vancouver has over 100 plots and 30 fruit trees

By Rachel Sanders
CBC News
Oct 27, 2019

Excerpt:

The Cedar Cottage Community Garden, located in East Vancouver underneath the SkyTrain track between the Nanaimo and Commercial-Broadway stations, is a little oasis of green that has been on the spot for just over a decade. A portion of it sits on land leased since 2008 from TransLink, as well as land belonging to the City of Vancouver that was incorporated into the garden in 2010. That portion is now slated for an affordable housing project.

“We recognize that is critical and we are supportive of that,” said Andrew Walker, treasurer of the Cedar Cottage Community Garden board of directors. The board understands the Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency needs the land and is not resistant to moving, they just want to find a new place to keep their garden growing.

The board has decided the best spot to relocate the 109 plots and 30 fruit trees is John Hendry Park, also known as Trout Lake Park, approximately 200 metres away, but there’s no decision yet whether the park board will allow it.

“I couldn’t imagine what it would be like without the garden,” said board member Yiman Jiang, who said spending time at the plot is a really good way to prevent social isolation for many seniors in the neighbourhood.

The garden also provides produce for a local senior meal program.

Read the complete article here.