Urban CSA

A "managed land" -inspired CSA that specializes in farming urban plots: through a process of habitat assessment and crop selection, create bounty from fallow lands inside of our urban neighborhoods.

...I took the thought one step further and imagined a business plan that would create value out of fallow land in connection with organic food production ( a CSA-like business, or maybe aurban land trust).

I was just struck by how many folks have gardens, and musing that perhaps it is time to have the CoO encourage urban horticulture & food production.

I'm especially interested in finding out more about soil testing kits & water quality technology for the home or community garden, and what liabilities (if any) lurk for the residential home-owner who wants to garden for profit or fun.

What would be thrilling to me is roof-top gardens on the high-rise housing in town...

...and also conversions of landscaped beds into "square-foot gardens" (instead of passing the cost of yard service to renters, encourage "food not lawns").

But these are decisions that owners/investors have to make...

...and what may be a big or difficult decision for a landlord, corporation, or property management company, is a simple chat for my household (and then we just do it, albeit not as grand as a big company or the City/County/State could do, but as much as we can =).

Hopefully I won't run into any legal obstacles trying to incorporate a small horticultural zone in my backyard, and I'm also looking forward here this Summer 2008 to an announcement (soon?!) from the City of Olympia to hold a public hearing about the proposal to permit public food gardens at the Madison Scenic park. When is this meeting gonna happen?

Thought I would also round up some other growth that is on the table around the city. These are either priliminary submissions to the city or project discussions, or may have already begun. Like with the clearing near Division & Walnut Rd, these things can slip by with little to no fuss. Take the entire moonscaping of the development along Mud Bay & Evergreen Pkway/101 Interchange for example. That will soon be a 58-Acre development. It is slated to have 231 single-family lots, 24 duplexes, 63 triplexes, 54 sixplexes, 20 townhomes, and commercial buildings with at least 7000 sq ft of floor space. And lots of garage doors. Link to location here.

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1. Trillium Neighborhood 'Village' Master Plan

• 79-Acre Master Planned Neighborhood here.
  
• A total of 517 housing units are proposed, with 311 single-family residences,
  26 duplex units, 180 multi-family apartments, and 1 unit in a mixed use building.
  
• Also proposed is an approximately 1.4 acre commercial site, a one-acre community green, other open spaces, and associated streets, utilities, and public services.
  
  

2. Bing Apartments

• 6-Story 133-Units. Location here.
  
  

3. Prather Valley Park

The public hearing for Larida Passage is tonight and the city is expecting a lot of people to show up. But, like a lot of folks, I'm not going to be able to attend and just emailed in my comments to the council and planning commission.

Rules for this thread: Share what you're going to say tonight or are emailing in. But, don't respond to anyone's comments. There are plenty of other threads here for back and forth, this is just internet public comment time.

Email for the city council (citycouncil [at] ci.olympia.wa.us) and planning commission (cpdinfo [at] ci.olympia.wa.us).

We encourage OlyBloggers to keep their own individual blogs elsewhere and JT is one of several who does so. John keeps The Musing Conservative.

By keeping his own blog he can write much more freely, this is his own turf. So when I visit I know where I am, John can continue to develop his own voice, and even though I may disagree with much of what he writes, I can enjoy reading through.

I even find his recent photo cartoon funny - and I'm a devoted cat lover.

Got something to say that doesn't fit in with our mission here? Want your own turf to play in? Rolling your own blog is easily done and there are many local examples to be inspired by.

photo by enpen
mouseover photo by enpen