Joel Hanson

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An update on the proposed Jarvis Street Community Garden

By JOEL HANSON / Transition Sitka president, Sitka Local Foods Network treasurer

Growing a community garden from scratch is no small feat, especially if you first have to look around for a suitable location. That can take some time, as we can attest.

It was a little over a year ago in January that a few of us from two nonprofit groups, Sitka Local Foods Network and Transition Sitka, joined forces to put energy behind establishing what the Italians appropriately call an orto di orto—a garden of gardens. And what have we got to show for it so far? Niente!

Actually, that’s not strictly true. If you turn off Sawmill Creek Road at the Post Office and go up Jarvis Street to the end, you’ll see a couple survey stakes stuck in the ground. They’re on the left, just before you get to the construction site where the Sitka Homeless Coalition has cleared an area for its cabin development.

Those stakes don’t look like much in the way of progress, but don’t be fooled. A lot of work has gone into putting them there. And if all goes according to plan, much more obvious signs of a Jarvis Street Community Garden will appear by mid-summer. Don’t expect it to look green and well-tended for a while yet, though.

There is much that needs to happen over the next few months to still leave a good portion of the coming construction season for earthworks. Before we can do anything on the ½-acre site besides take measurements and dream, we need to successfully bid on the Request for Proposal (RFP) that Sitka’s Planning Department expects to issue sometime soon for a “horticulture” project.  Then we need to negotiate the details of a long-term lease. Then the city needs to write those details into an ordinance for the Assembly to consider and pass through two hearings.

Daunting as this may seem, the city’s administration and staff, as well as our Assembly, have been helpful and supportive of our efforts. Good progress is not an unreasonable expectation at this point.

The goal this summer will be to clear the parcel, fence the perimeter, and hang walk-in and drive-in gates. We’ll also harden a small portion of the site to accommodate a modest parking area and a garden support structure. The structure’s actual construction will commence in spring of next year. It will house a restroom, a tool storage area and an open shelter. Garden bed development will also begin next year.

When the Jarvis Street Community Garden opens in 2026, aspiring growers will have access to more than forty standard 10’ by 20’ plots to turn into their own home-away-from-home kitchen gardens.

If you can, consider supporting this project with a donation to the Sitka Local Foods Network or Transition Sitka.

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#SeedMoneyChallenge fundraiser launches today for Jarvis Street community garden project

Sitka’s Jarvis Street community garden project is participating in the annual #SeedMoneyChallenge, a 30-day fundraising challenge running from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15, and we could really use your support.

In addition to keeping 100 percent of the funds we raise from individuals like you, we have a chance to win a challenge grant of up to $1,000 from SeedMoney based on how much we raise over the course of the 30-day challenge period. The fundraiser goes live at 8 a.m. Alaska Time on Wednesday, Nov. 15, and we are competing against more than 400 other garden projects around the world.

The Jarvis Street community garden project is one of two community garden projects originally proposed by Transition Sitka and the Sitka Local Foods Network, which would fill a glaring need in this town since the Blatchley Community Garden was closed in 2016. This project will build a new half-acre community garden at the top of Jarvis Street, near where the Sitka Homeless Coalition is building a tiny home neighborhood for unhoused Sitkans.

The funds raised in this campaign will go toward the $2,000 cost of a survey on the proposed site, which is needed for permitting the garden. Even though the garden site has Sitka Assembly approval, there are preliminary hurdles, such as paying for a licensed surveyor to establish the garden boundaries. Transition Sitka will receive the funds from this campaign.

As extra incentives, SeedMoney is offering a $400 bonus grant to the campaign that raises the most in the first 24 hours and 50 $100 bonus grants to the 50 campaigns that raise the most during the first week. Your support on launch day can help us secure one of these bonus grants.

Please support our campaign here, https://donate.seedmoney.org/9535/jarvis-street-community-garden.

For more information, go to https://transitionsitka.org/projects/sitka-food/sitka-community-gardens/ or call project coordinator Joel Hanson at 907-747-9834.

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Sitka Planning Commission to discuss community gardens proposal at Wednesday meeting

The Sitka Planning Commission will hear testimony on a lease request to build two community gardens on city land during its meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 19, at Harrigan Centennial Hall.

Transition Sitka and the Sitka Local Foods Network are jointly making the proposal, which would build Sitka’s first true community gardens since Blatchley Community Garden closed in 2016. The proposal will build two community gardens, one off Osprey Street behind the Vilandre Park ballfield next to Blatchley Middle School and a garden off the top of the Jarvis Street hill near where the new village of tiny homes for the homeless will be built.

“These gardens will fill a big food security need in our community, since we have a lot of people who live on boats or in apartments where they don’t have gardening space,” Sitka Local Foods Network board president Charles Bingham said. “When we worked on the Sitka Comprehensive Plan 2030, building new community gardens was listed as a major goal for the near future.”

There was a town hall on July 10 to discuss the proposal, which was moderated by the Sitka Planning and Community Development Department. KCAW did a morning interview before the town hall, and the Daily Sitka Sentinel wrote a story about the meeting (paywall).

For more information, go to https://transitionsitka.org/projects/sitka-food/sitka-community-gardens/ or call project coordinator Joel Hanson at 907-747-9834.

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Town hall meeting on July 10 will discuss new community garden proposal for Sitka

A town hall meeting to discuss Sitka community gardens will take place from 6-8 p.m. on Monday, July 10, at Harrigan Centennial Hall.

Nonprofits Sitka Local Foods Network and Transition Sitka are proposing to build two community gardens — on Jarvis Street and off Osprey Street.

The city’s Department of Planning and Community Development will moderate the discussion of the two proposals.

For more information, go to https://transitionsitka.org/projects/sitka-food/sitka-community-gardens/ or call Joel Hanson at 907-747-9834.

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Transition Sitka, Sitka Local Foods Network work to bring community gardens back to Sitka

In the spring of 2016, Sitka’s main community garden, Blatchley Community Garden was closed. Since then, Sitka hasn’t had a true community garden. But that soon might change.

Joel Hanson, who is part of the community sustainability group Transition Sitka and recently joined the board of the Sitka Local Foods Network, has been working on a proposal to create two community gardens. Both are about half an acre with 50 or more 10-foot-by-20-foot garden plots each, and located on city property. One is located off Osprey Street, next to the Vilandre baseball field next to Blatchley Middle School. The other is located near the top of Jarvis Street, near where the Sitka Homeless Coalition is building a new tiny house community for the unhoused.

More details, including maps, are included in the two linked handouts at the bottom of this story.

“Community gardens plant the seeds for a solution to community food security,” Hanson said. “They create a sense of place and cooperative engagement. They promote health, advance equity, encourage inclusion and foster resiliency. They are for people of all ages.”

“Rebuilding a community garden in Sitka has been a major need as far as food security in the years since Blatchley Community Garden was closed,” Sitka Local Foods Network president Charles Bingham said. “We have a lot of people in town who want to grow their own food, but they live in an apartment or on a boat and don’t have the space to garden. This gives them a place to grow their own produce. When Blatchley Community Garden was closed, all of the spaces were being used and there was a waiting list. This proposal fills that need and allows space for expansion.”

Over the past few months, Hanson has been meeting with city officials and committees/commissions, the Sitka Tribe of Alaska, UAF Cooperative Extension Service, and other organizations to develop the proposal linked below. These community gardens still need approval before they can be developed. Once approved, we will need to raise money for supplies, recruit volunteers or hire workers to develop the land (which may involve cutting trees and leveling off soil), and more.

If you are interested in volunteering, helping raise money to build the gardens, having a plot in one of the gardens, or just staying in touch with what’s happening, please click this link and complete the short survey, https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SitkaGardens. For more details, contact Joel Hanson at 907-747-9834 or email captainjoel@alaskan.com.

• Sitka community gardens project prospectus (with maps of both locations)

• Two-page Q&A sheet with more information