Additional comments for council meeting Tuesday April 14th - Community Gardens

From: Jennifer Freeman Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2020 10:53 AM To: Info Address info@viewroyal.ca Subject: Additional comments for council meeting Tuesday April 14th

Hello Mayor and Council,

I am writing today to ask you to re-open the View Royal Community Gardens. I am writing to you not as a personal user of the View Royal Community Gardens, but as a community food advocate and food garden educator with over 15 years of experience in the CRD and CRVD areas, and as a View Royal tax payer who wants food accessibility to be high on the list of priorities for View Royal residents.

From my understanding, the staff at View Royal has made the recommendation that the Community Gardens be closed for now as they feel that they can not be managed safely during the pandemic of Covid 19 that is currently in effect.

While this is a useful sentiment, community gardens are considered an essential service and they are a huge sense of security for people who use them. Having access to your own garden can be a safer experience of providing healthy fruits and vegetables for oneself during this time, with less people touching them and more distance between users than what one can get right now at the grocery stores.

What is also interesting, is that View Royal is the only municipality that has chosen to take this route - no other community garden closures have come into light through my research with provincial-wide food security organizations; FarmFolk CityFolk or the BC Food Security Community of Practice, which is a network of food security folks across BC, many of whom run community gardens. So I trust that the staff at View Royal is capable of coming up with some solutions that will allow gardeners access to their plots while also maintaining safety during this time.

Some ideas that might be useful to incorporate:

Closure of the garden tool shed - folks will have to bring their own hand tools until further notice.
Dividing box users in half and having designated days where half are allowed to be there and the other days for the other half (like when we have to be under watering restrictions).
Undoing the hose, but leaving the water on; providing an alcohol or bleach spray for folks to sanitize the taps between use and people will have to bring their own watering cans.
Posting signage for people to be reminded about social distancing requirements right now and to keep their hands only to their boxes.
I have attached some documents that have been made up by other municipalities to support the safe use of community gardens right now and happy to look for more examples within my network to offer you.

We all have to be living in this world right now and small risks have to be taken daily - whether that be to go and get groceries, put gas in the car, or even getting one's groceries delivered - someone else has touched that box or can or gas handle. The risks of being at a community garden are arguably way lower than any of the above options. Gardening is a solo quiet activity that can bring peace of mind during this very stressful time.

The weather is warm and now is the time to plant. Please support food accessibility and sustainable community agriculture in View Royal by re-opening the community gardens in a timely manner.

Sincerely

Jennifer Freeman

Zero Mile Solutions; Proprietor Westshore Center for Learning; Food Garden Educator & Consultant FarmFolk CityFolk; Board Secretary View Royal Community Association; Chair of the Board Victoria Urban Food Table Advisory Board; Member