ENCINITAS: Community garden proposed for city property

On a vacant city lot, an informal group hopes to grow a community garden where people could raise heirloom tomatoes, bushels of runner beans and maybe a pumpkin or two on individual plots.

"For me, it's about being able to know where your food comes from," said Tess Radmill, one of the organizers of the effort.

Radmill, who is the marketing and membership coordinator for the Downtown Encinitas MainStreet Association, said she and others are hoping that city officials will grant them permission to use a city-owned parcel along Quail Gardens Drive.

Project supporters plan to present their proposal to the City Council during its regular 6 p.m. meeting Wednesday at City Hall, 505 S. Vulcan Ave.

If the council informally supports the idea Wednesday night, the group expects to return at a later point with a formal proposal detailing cost and design information, Radmill said.

City recreation superintendent Teri Fazzio said Monday that the city has owned that 9.3-acre property on Quail Gardens Drive for years and long-term plans call for it to contain housing.

A new city staff report indicates that the initial start-up expenses for a community garden could include the installation of a water meter, as well as irrigation equipment and fencing.

Radmill said project supporters would be happy to have just 1 acre of the 9.3-acre site, but wouldn't say no if they received more land than that.

"An acre would be enough, but we're shooting for more," she said.

They may need it.

Carlsbad's community garden, which was established two decades ago, is wildly popular, its manager said Monday.

There's a waiting list that contains 75 names, garden coordinator Connie Kessler said Monday. There are 48 plots within the garden on Laguna Drive, and it can take up to four years to obtain one, she added.

People pay $60 for the use of their plots, and they grow everything from tomatoes to flowers, she said.

The Encinitas community garden proponents are getting support from a part-time city resident who's active in the national "Slow Foods" movement, which aims to encourage people to grow their own food and appreciate local products instead of downing burgers at fast-food restaurants.

Gordon Smith, who founded Slow Foods San Diego and coordinates the Southern California regional organization, said Monday that the Encinitas project is coming at the right time.

Growing your own produce has become very fashionable of late. The president's family recently tore out part of the White House lawn for a vegetable garden, and Maria Shriver, wife of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, has announced plans for a Victory Garden in Sacramento.

Things have changed greatly from a decade ago when "no one really had an idea what the movement was about," Smith said.