Allan Appel Photo
Dumping now occurs on the English Mall.
Robert Roberts listened to visitors talk about big plans for a one-acre farm right by his house — and wondered where the cookouts and Easter eggs will go.
Roberts joined other neighbors Tuesday night at a community meeting to discuss plans for a one-acre farm to be developed on part of a two-acre long, narrow strip of green space in Fair Haven.
Organizers described a farm producing fresh produce year-round for the neighborhood, with greenhouses sparkling in the sunlight, hydroponics, and opportunities for neighbors to learn new gardening and healthful cooking skills while helping cure their diabetes.
Roberts, for one, said he heard in those universally acknowledged good intentions a theft of park. the elimination of a green refuge where, for generations, homeowners have held community gatherings like barbecues and Easter egg hunts.
That dramatic clash of perspectives emerged Tuesday night in the library of the Clinton Avenue School near the land in question. The land is officially called English Mall, two elegant one-acre blocks of green with venerable trees and serious boulders that form a bucolic oasis between Peck and English streets and between Rowe and Clinton.
Kline and Roberts.
Roberts, a public works employee active in ward politics, was one of a handful of local longtime Fair Haven homeowners, along with 30 officials and participants in local food-focused organizations who attended the first meeting called by New Haven Farms.
New Haven Farms Executive Director Rebecca Kline said she wanted to begin a public discussion on conversion of part of English Mall into an urban farm as a next step in the development of her organization.
NHF was founded seven years ago on a small plot of land beside Charles Negaro’s Chabaso Bakery building on James Street. Kline ran that little farm with a mission to promote “health and community development through urban agriculture.”
Patients at the Fair Haven Community Health Clinic, who were struggling with diabetes, poor nutrition, and sedentary lifestyles, became urban farmers there as part of their health regime. Under the tutelage of Kline, her farm manager Jacqueline Maisonpierre, and a host of volunteer local gardeners and cooks, patients learn gardening skills, take classes in nutrition and vegetable-based culinary arts, and get much needed exercise from the hoeing and bending, carting and shlepping.
NHF now serves 40 families, all patients at the Fair Haven Community Health Clinic, on eight plots, totaling a half acre, scattered throughout town.
Araceli Romero of Exchange Street testified she’s healthier and developed a “love relationship with vegetables” through NHF.
For the sake of efficiency, and to triple the number of families served (beyond patients at a clinic), Kline has proposed the park conversion.
“We have found there’s a demand in New Haven for our program and our produce, and we’re not able to meet that demand with the land we have,” she said.
She and city officials began to review maps of possible one-to-two-acre sized lots available in the city. After they checked out 15 sites, “the property we thought would be best for people we want to serve would be English Mall,” she said.
What Chicken Coops Smell Like?
After breaking into small groups Tuesday night, participants emerged with competing visions of what such a transformation might mean for the neighborhood, a “tipping point” area that has historically been on the margins of sustaining a working-middle-class quality of life.
On streets like Peck, Dover, and Rowe, neighbors have been fighting the effects of home foreclosures, transient renters, and dereliction.
A contingent of idealistic kids from the Sound School’s vocational agriculture program proposed bringing hydroponics — growing food in water without soil — along with greenhouses and other advanced technical amenities so the land could be used year-round.
“It’s been a park for a long time,” said Doug Dering, who has lived on Peck Street for decades. He was hesitant to embrace the new vision.
Elizabeth Magenheimer, Justin Elicker, and Dering.
He asked what the farm would look like, especially during “down time”; and who would take care of it. Would the fencing comprise a barrier keeping local residents out? What if it fails and becomes an eyesore in years to come?
He said he adamantly opposes losing the beautiful trees and rocks.
After other participants proposed chicken coops, another neighbor declared, “You know what they smell like?” He said he does not want one in front of his house.
Kline repeatedly said no plans are set in stone. “This is the beginning of a conversation,” she said.
She said NHF’s general thinking at this point is to use only one of the blocks, to have walkways to encourage connection, and not to proceed without neighborhood support.
Kline said she and her team had knocked on the doors of every homeowner fronting English Mall and sent letters to each prior to the meeting. Overall the response of neighbors had been positive, she reported. She cited neighborhood concerns about whether fences will attract trouble and about loss of the space as a dog park.
She opined that many those positive neighbors were not at the meeting — as Robert Roberts, who was there, rose to speak emotionally about his opposition to any loss of the park land.
NHF gardener Luz Flores (right) said her daughter conquered fear of worms through NHF.
“Residents hold birthday parties, cookouts, picnics. Your intentions are good but it’ll take away. People bought houses here 50 years ago” to be near the English Mall, not a farm, he said.
“If I Wanted To Be Near a Farm …”
“We bought this house. My wife could not understand why this is being done. If I wanted to be near a farm, I’d buy a house in a rural area,” said Dering.
“Nothing is decided,” Kline sought to reassure Roberts, Dering, and others in pockets of resistance evident amid the generalized support. “Trees and open space will be incorporated” [into an ultimate plan], she said.
“Only one of the one-acre parcels will be used. That would be more than enough — with pathways through so it’s not all fenced off,” she added.
The acre between Rowe and Atwater is mostly open; between Atwater and Clinton are old trees and rocks.
Roberts was not mollified. He said the city always “dumps” on Fair Haven. “Why isn’t a site being considered in the East Shore or in Westville?” he asked rhetorically.
He reminded Kline that NHF’s largest plot, by the turbine adjacent to Phoenix Press on James Street, is not near families and children. Why not expand that or a similar non-residential location?
The clock struck 7:30 p.m., the meeting’s end. “This is the beginning of this conversation. Nothing is going ahead without more conversation” Kline repeated..
At the doorway leading out of the library and home, Roberts spoke with Lee Cruz, a Fair Haven activist and one of the founders of the Chatham Square Neighborhood Association. Cruz supports NHF’s plan.
Roberts suggested some part of Chatham Square Park might be more suitable. It already has walkways and lots of area events are held there.
“Why is it okay for Chatham Square and not English Mall?” said Cruz.
“I will look at a plan. I’ll bring it to the residents,” said Roberts.
Cruz suggested Robert come to the next Chatham Square community meeting to propose his idea.
Roberts said he will do that.