Flower Mound considers organic community garden

Green Acres Farm Memorial Park is the potential site for the garden.

Flower Mound is seeking input from residents to determine if there is an interest in having an organic community garden in town.

An organic garden features strictly organic material with no use of fertilizer or chemicals.

The town recently formed a subcommittee consisting of members from the Environmental Conservation Commission (ECC) and the Parks, Arts and Library Services (PALS) Board to solicit resident feedback on if there should be such a park, where it should be, and what it should include.

One such way is a survey the subcommittee developed, and residents can participate by going here.

The survey runs through February 28. The subcommittee will meet soon after the cutoff date to discuss the survey’s findings.

“After determining the desire to have the garden built, we will gather additional research such as what they would like to have there, how it operates and the different logistics of it,” said Chuck Jennings, parks and recreation superintendent. “Then the subcommittee will make a recommendation to the ECC and the PALS Board, who will then make a recommendation to the town council.”

For now, the town has planned on a spot at the future Green Acres Farm Memorial Park, 4400 Hide-A-Way Lane, as being the potential site for the garden.

“The council will then decide whether to proceed at that park, not build it, or build it somewhere else,” Jennings said.

In 2006, Green Acres Farm went through a master plan process in which an organic community garden was noted as being a desired component. Then in 2010 when the town updated its Parks and Trails Master Plan, the garden remained as part of Green Acres Farm.

Jennings said residents have expressed a desire for the garden during the last year.

Since the subcommittee was formed, members have visited various communities that have such a garden, including Lewisville, Coppell, and Grapevine.

Lewisville, for example, has two organic community gardens. One is run by the Christian Community Action (CCA) and is located next to its facility on Mill Street. The city also has a larger garden on the Upper Trinity Water District property called The Rich Lubke Community Organic Garden, which honors the garden's founder, Rich Lubke of Knight-Light Charities. There, the garden, which is jointly run by the Knight-Light Charities, Inc. and the Upper Trinity Regional Water District, is divided into various plots. Those interested in growing natural food there work with the Knights of Columbus to reserve a plot.

James Kunke, public information director for Lewisville, said the garden has vegetables and a small orchard of fruit trees. The main provision for using the garden is that while the individual can keep the majority of the food grown there, a portion of it is donated to charity.

Other considerations into a future Flower Mound garden will be who will maintain the garden once it’s complete. That could become the town’s responsibility, or a nonprofit organization could take on that role.

For information, call the Parks Department at 972-874-6300 or e-mail parks@flower-mound.com.