Making way for future growth
Old driveway, former food bank house razed to make way for community garden expansion
The city’s former food bank house at 14900 State Road, pictured here, was razed Aug. 28 along with an abandoned driveway on the other side of the garden to make way for the garden’s future expansion. The community garden can be seen in the background. Photo by JAIME ANTON
For two years now, the North Royalton Community Garden has been planting the seed for a future expansion and hopes this plan takes root within the next year. Photo by JAIME ANTON
NORTH ROYALTON – At some point, the North Royalton Community Garden hopes to grow, and many may have noticed some movement on State Road to make way for that future growth.
The old driveway to the north of the garden — between the garden and city hall — was removed last week by North Royalton contractor Bill Baumann. On Aug. 28, the city also had Baumann raze its vacant former food bank home at 14900 State Road on the other side of the garden at the same time, as the home is no longer needed.
“It’s run its usefulness as a city storage facility,” Community Development Director Tom Jordan said. “The garden has been a huge success, and we want to expand that offering.”
Mayor Bob Stefanik said the house was primarily used for storage for the recreation department and office on aging. The lot where the home stands has been consolidated into the city’s Memorial Park property.
“The new city hall gave us more storage and the last of the recreation equipment will move to the new facility on York Road when we get occupancy of the building,” he said, referring to the county garage the city is in the process of purchasing next to the ball fields.
Stefanik said the garden has been bountiful, and the demo of the driveway and home will allow for future growth there.
“The North Royalton Community Garden has exceeded our expectations, and we are happy to assist this fine group of people in their endeavors to grow,” the mayor said.
Dejana Cinquepalmi, the garden’s coordinator, said the garden has been a huge success in its nine years, with new gardeners eager to snatch up any available plots each year, which are usually sparse as typically there is a waiting list each season.
The seed for the expansion was first planted two years ago, the garden is just waiting for the project to take root, hopefully in the form of a boy scout project down the road. The plan is to add close to 20 plots to the garden’s current 41 plots, ideally within the next year.
“We wanted to expand east initially but now that we have decided to expand to the north, we will end up with more plots when we do expand, which is even better,” she said. “We would like to do this as a boy scout project, since that’s how the garden was originally planted nine years ago. Hopefully, we can recruit a willing scout soon and can get to work next year. We are eager to see this come to fruition.”
To join the waiting list, visit the garden’s Facebook page, North Royalton Community Garden, or email them at nrcg2015@yahoo.com.
The old driveway to the north of the garden — between the garden and city hall — was removed last week by North Royalton contractor Bill Baumann. On Aug. 28, the city also had Baumann raze its vacant former food bank home at 14900 State Road on the other side of the garden at the same time, as the home is no longer needed.
“It’s run its usefulness as a city storage facility,” Community Development Director Tom Jordan said. “The garden has been a huge success, and we want to expand that offering.”
Mayor Bob Stefanik said the house was primarily used for storage for the recreation department and office on aging. The lot where the home stands has been consolidated into the city’s Memorial Park property.
“The new city hall gave us more storage and the last of the recreation equipment will move to the new facility on York Road when we get occupancy of the building,” he said, referring to the county garage the city is in the process of purchasing next to the ball fields.
Stefanik said the garden has been bountiful, and the demo of the driveway and home will allow for future growth there.
“The North Royalton Community Garden has exceeded our expectations, and we are happy to assist this fine group of people in their endeavors to grow,” the mayor said.
Dejana Cinquepalmi, the garden’s coordinator, said the garden has been a huge success in its nine years, with new gardeners eager to snatch up any available plots each year, which are usually sparse as typically there is a waiting list each season.
The seed for the expansion was first planted two years ago, the garden is just waiting for the project to take root, hopefully in the form of a boy scout project down the road. The plan is to add close to 20 plots to the garden’s current 41 plots, ideally within the next year.
“We wanted to expand east initially but now that we have decided to expand to the north, we will end up with more plots when we do expand, which is even better,” she said. “We would like to do this as a boy scout project, since that’s how the garden was originally planted nine years ago. Hopefully, we can recruit a willing scout soon and can get to work next year. We are eager to see this come to fruition.”
To join the waiting list, visit the garden’s Facebook page, North Royalton Community Garden, or email them at nrcg2015@yahoo.com.