Alliance City Manager J.D. Cox says city Staff needs to have a clear direction on the future of the Alliance Community Garden, located on the east side of 2700 Big Horn Avenue, so he has requested the city council discuss the issue at its upcoming Thursday night meeting.
“For years the garden was operated with the understanding that little or no staff involvement would be required,” he said. “Yet, for the last couple of years, I noticed the hours of City staff time being spent at the garden. Last year, I learned that the City was incurring substantial costs in water, so we moved to curtail this fact and it was shared with Council.”
Cox says additional concerns are:
• Numerous complaints have been received concerning the site being unsightly, overgrown and not properly maintained;
• With the push/demand for housing, this is a prime location for such (not a garden);
• Last year, the gardening group was close to not being able to pay their water bill and was able to be resolved without argument at the eleventh hour; and
• Last year, Council agreed to establish a temporary board to oversee operations; that board has ceased to exist, unless it is either reauthorized or codified into perpetuity.
Cox says there are several options, including:
• Leave Community Garden in the same location & operationally unchanged;
• Leave Community Garden in the same location & change the operations (different management);
• Move Community Garden to another City location;
• Close Community Garden and allow to be run privately without City involvement.
Other locations identified include:
• West 10th Street, near the City’s 10th Street Substation
• Homestead Addition
Cost to Move:
• Investments have previously been made to install water services
• Estimate to establish water services at a new location – 3 Services X $6000/service is approximately $18,000.
Thursday night’s council meeting begins at 7 p.m., and will be televised live on Charter Cable Channel 6.