Today it was made official! The City of Ottawa voted to include community gardens as a designated use of the site! See www.helpsavebugs.homestead.com for details!
Viva BUGs! Viva! Dwayne Hodgson Help Save BUGs Committee -----Original Message----- From: Robyn Stewart [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: September 9, 2003 11:01 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [cg] Campaign to save Bytowne Urban Gardens, Ottawa,Ontario, Canada Congratulations! Good work! Robyn Stewart City Parks Foundation 1234 Fifth Ave, room 232 New York, NY 10029 (212) 360-2744 [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> Seamus Vanderkelt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 09/09/03 10:53AM >>> Dear fellow urban community gardeners: I wrote you in the spring to let you know about the threat to a community garden in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Bytowne Urban Gardens (BUGs) is in its 7th growing season on a piece of vacant land owned by the City of Ottawa. This year, the City bureaucrats have applied to rezone the property to accommodate an ambulance station and potentially an apartment building. The BUGs participants have mobilized to ask that the garden would also be designated as an official use of the site, and two weeks ago, they won! After some intense lobbying and with the leadership of the local ward councillor, the Planning and Development Committee of the City of Ottawa (Ontario, Canada) unanimously approved an amendment to a rezoning proposal to stipulate that the community garden should be a mandatory component of that site. The final decision will be made tomorrow (September 10) at a City of Ottawa Council meeting, but it is expected that they will not overturn a unanimous decision of their own sub-committee. If it passes tomorrow as we hope, this will be a major victory for BUGs and for the community garden movement in Ottawa. The downside is that the property is still vulnerable to an appeal from a developer to be granted variance from the new zoning. As well, there is currently no formal designation in the zoning system for "community garden". This will be the next step and the local Community Garden Network will be lobbying for this in the next few weeks. If any of you have experience in getting a zoning designation for community gardens, I'd appreciate some "pro-tips". Please write me @ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thanks! Viva BUGs! Viva! Dwayne Hodgson Help Save BUGs! A coalition to keep the Community Garden in Centretown, Ottawa. --------------------------------- Post your free ad now! Yahoo! Canada Personals ______________________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden
