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July 29th, 2017

7/29/2017

Holmes Run Community Garden Advisory Board Meeting
Saturday, July 29, 2017 @ 10a.m. - Beatley Library Small Conference Room
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Attendees
Suzanne Bouchard, City of Alexandria
Barb Goodman
Jennifer Holland
Tara Houlden
Dick Meyer
Pamella Newton

Agenda
Review of Partnership Agreement
New Business

Notes

Holmes Run Community Garden Potluck Barbecue (9/16/17)
- Pamella is going to spearhead a potluck barbecue in the park adjacent to the garden on Saturday, September 16. She will reach out to gardeners soon to start planning and coordinating the event.
- The advisory board will also hold a meeting on 9/16 at/after the barbecue.
Rodent abatement
- City received quote for rodent abatement from contractor. City to proceed with placement of boxes and rodent abatement for first quarter to see if there are rats or something else in the garden. The traps will look like landscaping rocks instead of black boxes.
- Gardeners are asked to NOT move the boxes or put them in individual gardens. The traps cannot be monitored or refilled if moved.
- Chris Watson, park manager, will be notified about the traps to ensure that the mowing crews and others are aware of them.
Abandoned Plots
- Plot 9 officially gave up their garden. Suzanne is working the waiting list to find another renter for the plot.
- Plot 20 gave up their plot recently. They are the second gardener to give up plot 20 this season.
- Everyone gets a week to respond to the city’s outreach about renting a plot before moving to the next person on the waiting list.
Partnership Agreement
- Suzanne will mark the 4 corners of the garden where the gardeners will be responsible for maintenance and upkeep under the partnership agreement on Monday. The weather caused a delay in marking.
- Section 3.I.i - the language will be modified to better describe the boundaries. A color map will be sent out to show the borders of the area of responsibility. Gardeners will be responsible for approximately from the spigots on the south side, the trail on the north side, the asphalt patch on the west side, and approximately 3 feet out from the east side of the garden (~3 feet out from the old telephone pole marking the edge of the plots by garden 24). The benches will not be included, nor will we be responsible for any trees.
- Suzanne made other minor updates to fix inconsistencies in the bullet numbering.
Name of Garden
- We agreed the garden will be called “Holmes Run Community Garden.”
Tracking Volunteer Hours
- Gardeners will be responsible for tracking volunteer hours (time spent at board meetings, upkeep for the shared areas surrounding the garden, etc.). Suzanne will provide logs that will need to be submitted once a month. There will be two types of logs - group activities (e.g. board meetings, garden work days) which will be updated by the sponsor of the activity and personal activities (e.g. common area maintenance on your own) which will be updated by individuals. All gardeners will have access to an electronic version of the log to update regularly. These hours will be reported to the city to demonstrate that we are putting in work to the garden to help keep the fees lower.
- One goal is to build the gardens as a community. Volunteering at the garden is one way to help build that community and to help keep all of our fees lower.
Garden Plot Renewals
- Plot renewals will be due again this year by November 30. Watch for additional information from Suzanne this fall.
- Suzanne is working on the 2018 garden regulations. The advisory board is considering asking that the regulations include approximately 5 hours of volunteer work from each plot to help maintain the common areas and participate in other activities (e.g. Board meetings - see note on tracking volunteer hours above for other examples)
- Plot renewals are based on outcomes on the monitoring sessions. If you are in good standing, you will be invited to renew your plot.
Care of Trees
- We can get free wood chips nearly year round from the city’s tree contractor Care of Trees. There is not a delivery fee. The quality depends on the type of tree work that Care of Trees has done, but they are generally doing tree work all the time in the city. When contacting them for wood chips, we need to let them know we are affiliated with the city as part of the Community Garden program.
Annual Reporting
- As part of the partnership agreement the city will provide the advisory board with an annual report and the advisory board will provide an annual report to the city. This is where the city will outline the expenses for Holmes Run Community Garden and where the advisory board will report out the volunteer hours, work we have done, and outline any costs we expended on materials (receipts required).
Garden Monitoring
- Next garden monitoring session is scheduled for August 12 at 9am.
- List of invasive species is available in the city’s landscaping requirements. Most are not an issue in our garden.

Action Items

Pamella will start coordination for potluck barbecue.
Suzanne will mark the corners of the garden.
Suzanne will update the partnership agreement and distribute for review.

Next Meeting Agenda ItemsSign Partnership Agreement
Set standard date/time for board meeting
Next Meeting: August 12, 2017, Time TBD (either 10am at garden or 2pm at library)

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7/15/17 Meeting

7/15/2017

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Advisory Board Meeting Minutes

Saturday, 07.15.2017 @ 2:00 p.m. Beatley Library Small Conference Room
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Attendees
Suzanne Bouchard, Horticulturist, city of Alexandria
Pamella Newton
Jennifer Holland
Tara Houlden
Joan Branch
Dick Meyer
Barb Goodman

Agenda
New Business

Introductions
Q&A with city
1. Forming an advisory board
2. Discussing a partnership between the city and gardeners

Notes

The city council voted to raise the garden fees as part of the budget process.
Suzanne explained that Chinquapin garden is entering into partnership agreement with the city to take over 50% of the maintenance to reduce fees. The city will be keeping administration because Chinquapin is a volunteer advisory board. Chinquapin wants to remain a advisory board and keep their rental fees at $90 next year.
Suzanne distributed a draft agreement for Holmes Run community garden for review and discussion. Draft agreement can be seen at: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5n0gaLHzJD-N2JhcVlyRWs1a2c
- Gardeners would be responsible for maintenance of the gardens. The gardeners would be responsible for mowing, mulch piles, pathways, abandoned plots, path repairs (not a current issue at Holmes Run garden), garden monitoring (under guidance from the city), and weeds around spigots/benches. The agreement can require “garden service” hours by gardeners as part of the rental agreement.
- City would be responsible for administration, water, line maintenance, trash (currently 2 trash bins), and anything that requires a contractor to come in.
- A map is included in the draft agreement. Essentially, the gardeners would be responsible for the water spigots to the front of the garden, approximately 3 feet out on the N. Paxton Street side of the garden, to the path in the back of the garden, and to the makeshift pavement/stone area on the North Ripley side of the garden. The gardeners are not required to keep these areas as grass and can mulch, plant flower beds, pollinator gardens, etc. The gardeners are required to meet the landscape requirements that are listed in attachment B of the draft agreement.
- Suzanne and the park manager will work to stake out the perimeter later this summer to give the gardeners a better area of their responsibility.
- The agreement would start September 1, 2017 and be in effect for 2 years, with either side being able to cancel the agreement prior to its completion.
- Initial comment is to remove the reference to half plots since they don’t apply to Holmes Run garden.
- Draft language has been vetted by city management since it’s based on the Chinquapin agreement.
Ultimately the city would like for the gardens to become a self maintained garden by becoming or partnering with a 501c3 non-profit. This would allow for administration of the gardens to be turned over to the gardens. The garden would have a manager who works with the city. Part of the goal is to work to make the community gardens more of a community.
- Suzanne gave some examples of nonprofit and volunteer organization partnerships - DelRay Artists Association partners with the DelRay Business Group.
- There is a West End Alexandria Business Association.
- There is a nonprofit resource at the Central Library in Arlington.
- Each jurisdiction operates their community gardens differently. An example of a self-governing entity is at Jones Point community garden friends group partnering with the National Park Service.
Suzanne is working to keep track of spending by garden which hasn’t been done in the past. This will help isolate the expenses at Chinquapin and Holmes Run separately.
- Water and trash are not separated for the garden specifically (all park trash pickup is in a single bill for example). The water should be able to be isolated since there is no other water in Holmes Run park. These are not expensive items.
- The mowing costs ~ $3,000 per year and is charged to the garden, even though as Tara and others pointed out, the city would still need to mow if the gardens weren’t there. This fee will be eliminated if the gardeners enter into an agreement with the city and take on responsibility for the area outlined in attachment A of the draft agreement.
Holmes Run community garden formed an advisory board so the gardeners can enter into an agreement with the city to reduce rental fees.
- Chairperson - Jennifer Holland
- Vice Chairperson - Tara Houlden
- This is a volunteer advisory board with regular meetings. Plan to hold a monthly meeting with the city at Beatley Library or in Holmes Run Park. This meeting will be used to bring up and address any issues with a city representative and propose new regulations, etc.
- Meetings with be on weekends with a specific schedule TBD.
- The attendees of this meeting are the de facto board. Any gardener is welcome to join the board.
Other items discussed
- The city can put up a bulletin board/kiosk so we can share messages with the gardeners.
- Mr. Powell is no longer with Care of Trees. Will try to get a new contact to get wood chips delivered to Holmes Run garden.
- If it’s not organic it’s not supposed to be used in the gardens (e.g. Miracle Grow - original version)
- Rodent Issues
  - Someone from Pavilion on the Park condos is leaving trash/food scraps out by the trees on the N. Paxton side of the garden. The park manager has been notified. Suzanne has contacted pest management to get bait boxes put out.
- Plot 9 is the only gardener that has not responded to Suzanne’s messages about issues after the last monitoring session. She will attempt one last contact with the gardeners of plot 9 before considering it abandoned. Gardeners have cleared out the plot (and put in some vining plants over the past week).
- If we notice an abandoned garden, please notify the city if any of the other gardeners are cleaning it out. It’s important for the monitors and the city to know if people have abandoned their plots. It is possible to re-rent plots throughout the season and generate additional income.
- There are approximately 30 people on the garden wait list.

Action Items

Pamella will set up the next meeting (completed 7/15).
Meeting attendees will review the draft partnership and bring questions to 7/29 meeting.
Set up Facebook page for Holmes Run garden - Tara (completed 7/15) (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1719054978388320/)

Next Meeting Agenda ItemsNext meeting 7.29.2017 @ 10a.m.
Beatley Library Small Conference Room
Review and Finalize partnership

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