Volunteer farm suffers setback
City shutters urban greenhouses for failing to abide by building code
A group that grows produce for Calgary’s food bank says it’s in a pickle after the city deemed its farm buildings unsafe and fenced them off.
Grow Calgary harvests veggies from a 4.5- hectare swath of land near Canada Olympic Park, but founder Paul Hughes said he was told by city staff that three buildings don’t comply with building code rules.
“We’re quite willing to stand behind our structures and prove that they are safe structures,” Hughes said, adding that engineers will study the buildings to determine if any changes are necessary.
“The city has put a fence around them suggesting they are dangerous to the public. We have such minimal, minimal public traffic out there.”
In 2013, the urban farm’s first year of production, Grow Calgary produced 20 truckloads of vegetables, from potatoes to spinach, for the local food bank.
Hughes said production increased last year, but he warned his hopes for the coming season have been partially squashed. Harvests this year, he said, may be down significantly because its greenhouses have been shuttered.
Among the buildings now guarded by a fence is a so- called Earthship greenhouse, built with tires and dirt, which Hughes said combine to create a strong structure.
“They’re saying that it can’t withstand a snow load or a wind load,” Hughes said. “Well, the thing can withstand a thermo- nuclear blast.”
Another structure deemed unsafe is what Hughes calls a pallet palace, a building made of interlocking wooden pallets and used by Grow Calgary as a workspace, toolshed and storage area. The third structure is what Hughes considers a more traditional greenhouse of polyvinyl plastic and wood.
Ward Sutherland, the area councillor, surveyed the site after a number of city inspector visits. He was surprised how messy it was.
“It’s a good cause but the place is a disaster,” Sutherland said, adding the city had received complaints about the property.
Hughes, who disagrees with the building standards, said his group will be able to harvest fresh produce for hungry Calgarians without the greenhouses, just not as much as he had hoped.
“If we’re going to facilitate a robust food system, we’ve got to get our heads around greenhouses,” he said. “Not everybody who is growing has deep pockets.”