Ceres Community Project defends Sebastopol garden against housing proposal
MARY CALLAHAN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT October 7, 2019
A bid to develop much-needed, high-density housing in Sebastopol has put the future of a prized community garden in jeopardy, potentially displacing an acre of tilled land that helps feed seriously ill patients and provides valuable education to teen volunteers through the highly regarded Ceres Community Project.
Early stage planning for Gravenstein Village, which would be built behind O’Reilly Media headquarters on the north end of town, could allow Ceres’ gardening needs to be integrated into the project as currently envisioned: 18 multistory structures arranged across two parcels totaling just over six acres, according to Phil Kerr, a principal with the development firm with an option to buy the land.
Alternative locations for the garden are also under discussion, according to city officials and Ceres representatives. The garden is currently hosted on donated land, under a month-to-month lease, until the property changes hands.
But Ceres Chief Executive Officer Cathryn Couch said replacing the one-acre garden with smaller plots dispersed around the residential project is not workable for several reasons, chiefly the need to maintain supervision and safety for teen volunteers who work in the garden.
Given eight years of effort and investment in the soil, the Sebastopol nonprofit also is reluctant to confront the cost, disruption and labor needed to start over someplace else, even if a different plot of land were donated, she said.
Bottom line: Ceres hopes to persuade San Francisco-based City Ventures to design its project around the garden, Couch said.
“It’s not just having a garden space,” she said. “It’s what the value of that garden is now for the community and our investment in that over time. It’s more complicated than, ‘Oh here’s another tract of land. Build another garden.’ ”
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The first public review of the plan will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday before the Sebastopol Planning Commission at the Sebastopol Youth Annex, 425 Morris St.
A preliminary design presented during an earlier city Tree Board meeting showed buildings distributed evenly across the irregularly shaped parcels, including the area where the garden and assorted infrastructure are currently located.
Kerr said there remains plenty of time to work out a creative, satisfactory solution between Tuesday’s meeting and what could be months, perhaps years, of plan development still ahead.
“Nothing’s been decided at this point,” he said. “It’s really early in the process.”
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