Community gardens petition NYC agencies for legal protections

The New York City Community Garden Coalition, the environmental law organization Earthjustice and 52 community gardens are seeking the legal protections that would help them preserve their gardens, the Queens Daily Eagle reports.

The groups are petitioning New York City agencies to designate more community gardens as Critical Environmental Areas under the state’s Environmental Quality Review Act. Such designations would better insulate gardens from the threats of displacement caused by new development, especially given the few legal protections afforded to the city’s 550 community gardens, the coalition says. It is requesting that the city pursue designating 40 gardens as Critical Environmental Areas over the next six months, and that it goes on to evaluate all other community gardens on city-owned land be evaluated for the same status.

To be a Critical Environmental Area, the land must meet certain requirements, including providing a benefit to human health and being in a natural setting. The petition says the community gardens outlined fulfill all those criteria by promoting air quality, offering access to fresh nutritious food, and promoting educational opportunities for youth, among other reasons. 

“(Critical Environmental Area) designation of community gardens represents a significant step toward preserving community gardens as critical parts of the City’s landscape and giving community gardeners a meaningful – and necessary – voice in the decision-making process for projects that may affect gardens,” the petition reads.