City renews offer on land, and community gardens group may pitch in
Urban farm just might get lease on life
An urban farm may take root after all in the heart of Buffalo’s Broadway- Fillmore neighborhood.
City officials have renewed their offer to let Mark and Janice Stevens lease the land on Wilson Street for their produce farm and signaled that they’re also willing to be flexible on some terms.
City Hall’s softening stance on the Stevenses’ proposal comes after The Buffalo News showcased the plans by the East Side family to start a farm on an empty two-acre plot of land on Wilson Street — and City Hall’s resistance to the farm. City real estate officials had balked at the idea of selling the land to the family, saying that they wanted to reserve the land for future development.
Initially, the Stevenses ruled out a lease. They wanted to own the land because they were hesitant to invest time and effort if it could be taken away from them.
But Mark Stevens has reconsidered. He says that with the outpouring of community support for his produce farm, the city probably would refrain from such action.
“It just seems like the city would probably look at other places before they would try to take it back,” Stevens said.
Kirk Laubenstein, chairman of Grassroots Gardens, said he thinks the proposed urban farm has merit. He said he believes leaders of his group, which has planted and helped maintain dozens of community gardens throughout the city, would be willing to work with the Stevens family on such issues as a lease and liability insurance.
Common Council President David A. Franczyk, who represents the Fillmore neighborhood, has been trying to broker a compromise.
“I would prefer a straight-out sale. But you have to get your tiller in the ground,” Franczyk said.
City development officials have rejected selling the tract, saying it is being reserved for housing. But Economic Development Commissioner Brian Reilly said the city always has been willing to discuss a lease.
“This is not a new idea. We urged the [Stevenses] to consider a lease last year. We’re back to where we started,” Reilly said.
One downside to a lease: The city usually insists on retaining the option to reclaim property on 30 days’ notice.
But the city might agree to an end-of-season notification, said Drew Eszak, Buffalo’s acting planning director. In other words, the Stevenses would know at least six months in advance whether they would be permitted to continue farming the land.
Mark Stevens said he hopes it won’t come down to that.
“Obviously, we’d be very disappointed if we did lose [the farm] that way,” he said. “Our level of comfort [with the lease agreement] comes down to, really, the outpouring of support that’s behind this project. We’re just encouraged that that lends security to the agreement.”
Reilly said numerous issues remain. If, for example, the Stevenses plan to plant directly in soil now on site, it would have to undergo environmental testing.
He also raised concerns about the impact a fairly large urban farm could have on the neighborhood, including possible smells from fertilizer, water runoff and the possibility of noisy harvesting equipment.
Stevens said the city won’t have to worry about such problems. The land, he said, isn’t plowable at this time. His family would bring in dirt to create raised beds for growing produce.
Down the line, if they want to plant in the ground, they would get the earth tested, he assured.
He also said the farm would not use any chemical or pesticides.
“We’ve always grown naturally,” said Stevens, who had a small farm in Wyoming County before he moved his large family to Fillmore Avenue.
“Our main focuses would be composting and vermin culture — earthworms,” he said. Done properly, Stevens said, there won’t be any unpleasant smell.
“Have you ever stuck your hand inside good compost?” he asked. “It smells like fresh dirt. . . . [The farm] isn’t going to smell like a dairy farm.”
Laubenstein, meanwhile, said he spoke with Mark Stevens and is impressed with his vision. While a two-acre urban farm “diverges” from the traditional community gardens Grassroots fosters, Laubenstein said he believes his board of directors would be willing to serve as the entity that executes a lease with the city.
“I think it’s a good project that makes sense,” he said. “And [the lease] might allow the Stevenses to grow this year.”
The organization already has a $1 million insurance policy to guard against liability at the more than 30 gardens it maintains, Laubenstein said.
In response to claims by Franczyk and others that the city should sell the land to the family, Reilly stressed the importance of following the city’s long-term plan for economic development. The plan, he noted, has won a national award and should not be tossed aside every time a new proposal surfaces.
City officials said the land on Wilson Street has been set aside for Habitat for Humanity. But the organization’s president told The News earlier this month that Habitat would be “glad to take a look” at alternate sites for future housing. Ronald
G. Talboys also said it would be at least a couple years before his group would start developing the Wilson Street site.
But even after Habitat said it would consider other options, Mayor Byron W. Brown maintained that the Wilson Street tract eventually should be used for housing. Other developers, he insisted, could be lured to build on one of the city’s largest tracts of residential land.
“I don’t have any problems with urban farming as a concept,” the mayor said. “But the city has a comprehensive plan that we’re following — the Queen City Hub Plan. Everything has to be looked at in the context of long-term planning.”
Others argue that with more than 14,100 vacant lots, the city should embrace the urban farm plan.
The Stevens family is hopeful that the lease will work out. They are busy making preparations so they can start building their raised beds and planting the seedlings they’ve started at their home.
Tomatoes, lettuces, herbs, peas, green beans, beets, turnips and onions would be among the first produce to be grown on the farm, Stevens said.
“They’re just a whole variety of things that normally make up our table and, hopefully, things others will be looking for, too.”
bmeyer@buffnews.com and mbecker@buffnews.com
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