Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Boca community garden forced to make way for Brightline station
BOCA RATON – Brightline will plant a station where a community garden now sits, hoping to grow its ridership and connect South Florida to one of the area’s business hubs.
The plan means gardeners who have invested in the downtown green space for almost a decade will have to start another garden from scratch.
It’s taken that long to cultivate a flourishing food forest of fruits and vegetables, a wildflower walk of native Florida plants and almost 100 rented plots for individual gardens.
But by the end of next year, they might not have the garden at all.
Brightline, rebranding as Virgin Trains USA, recently chose Boca as the next location for a new train station. The company asked the city to donate the land a few blocks west of Mizner Park for the station — property that is currently home to the city’s library parking lot and the downtown community garden.
The city’s leaders have assured gardeners, represented by the Junior League of Boca Raton, that they’re committed to keeping a community garden downtown. They’ve identified city-owned alternatives for the displaced garden, such as a lot right by City Hall and near the children’s museum.
But moving the garden — complete with the food forest, wildflower walk and some big, towering trees — is a hefty task with an even bulkier price tag, according to Junior League president Cristy Stewart-Harfmann.
“Gardeners are excited by the possibility of a new space, but they’re worried the cost is going to be astronomical,” Stewart-Harfmann said.
She wouldn’t say how much it might cost to relocate but said numbers discussed recently were well beyond what the Junior League can afford.
The garden’s budget for the last year was $10,000 in maintenance. Funds come from the Junior League’s budget and the monthly cost to rent a plot.
The plots range in size. Gardeners pay $60 per month for a 4x4 plot and $85 for a 4x8 one. The largest plot available, 4x12 for $110 per month, is roughly the size and shape of the bed of a pickup truck.
Stewart-Harfmann said the Junior League will seek outside funding, either from the city, community or from Virgin Trains, to help relocate.
“It’s going to challenge the whole community to support the relocation effort, to completely design and relocate the garden,” said Rebecca Heatherman, who rents her own plot and serves as the garden’s cochairwoman for the Junior League. “In 2010, it didn’t start out the way it is now. It expanded beyond the original number of plots, and kept expanding into what’s now a peaceful little oasis in the middle of downtown Boca.”
Boca loaned the land to the Junior League with the stipulation that it might one day use it for something else. With that in mind, the Junior League used wooden and recycled plastic for individual plots that could easily pick up and move to a new location.
But it took time to establish the more permanent elements, such as the food forest and the wildflower walk, according to Lynn Russell, the full-time gardener who serves as the garden liaison and was the first gardener to lease a plot. She said it took about five years for the food forest’s soil to take hold and produce the starfruit, mangoes, bananas, figs and papaya it does now.
Some of the long-term features likely won’t survive a move and would have to be recreated from scratch, snagging the flow of food to local restaurants and charities that feed people and families in need.
Vaughan Dugan has four plots in the community garden and multiple businesses in South Florida, including Kapow! Noodle Bar and Dubliner in Mizner Park. Herbs for the restaurant’s cocktails, such as mint and rosemary, come directly from his plots in the community garden.
“It’s been a really exciting opportunity to involve the staff in something they wouldn’t normally have any involvement in,” Dugan said.
It’s a bonding experience for Dugan, his wife and 4-year-old son. He said they spend time gardening together a couple times a week.
“It shapes how we’re bringing up our son, on an organic, sustainable lifestyle,” Dugan said.
Dugan said he was excited to learn of the plans for the new Brightline station, because it would bring positive economic outcomes for the city’s downtown and his restaurants. He sometimes works from the Kapow location in West Palm Beach on Clematis Street, so a Brightline station in Boca would create a convenient transportation option between his businesses.
But it was a little sad to learn those opportunities would come at the garden’s expense, he said.
“I immediately thought: ‘What’s gonna happen to the garden?’” he said. “I’m hoping the city can use this as an opportunity to expand the garden project, take a good opportunity and make it even better.”
The expansion idea has been floated at city meetings. City leaders said they were excited by ideas such as rooftop gardens on top of parking garages or even incorporated into the proposed pedestrian bridge that comes with the new station, similar to the High Line elevated park in New York City that grew from decommissioned railroad tracks.
There’s no telling how long the relocation might take once the garden is torn down.
“Nature isn’t like being in a building. You can’t just pick up your belongings and move them somewhere else,” Heatherman said. “It will take the support of a whole community to be sure that we’re able to care for the land, the soil, and ensure we’re able to have an environment that can grow. That doesn’t happen overnight.”
An expansion could mean eventually feeding more people from the garden.
Ten percent of all fruits and vegetables harvested by the gardeners are donated to Boca Helping Hands. All of the fruits and vegetables grown in the food forest, including papaya, mangoes, watermelon and tomatoes, are also donated to the Boca Raton nonprofit.
And the relocation could even mean expanding the community gardens beyond the downtown area.
“There are things we’ll be able to improve upon as we move ahead,” Heatherman said. “In a downtown space or even in a new space, we have an opportunity to do it bigger, better, and to reach more people.”