City Releases New Rate and Fee Schedule for Community Gardens

Community gardeners in Los Angeles face a nearly 400-percent rate hike in plot fees beginning July 1, city parks officials told a crowd of gardeners at the L.A. Recreation and Parks Commission meeting Wednesday morning.

Gardeners from the Sepulveda Garden Center in Encino were among those voicing their concerns about the rate hike—which would raise the annual rental fee for a garden plot from $25 to $120, paid directly to the Recreation and Parks Department. That amounts to a monthly increase of $8, which many of the mostly retired gardeners said they can't afford.

“The gardeners want the fee increase and policy rescinded,” Mary Tokita of the L.A. Community Garden Council said in a statement. “L.A. civic agencies should not balance their budgets on the backs of our poorest and most vulnerable citizens, nor should a city department strip the 'community' of community gardens in order to justify salaries and recover costs.”

According to Sanders, however, the plot fee increase that was quietly approved on July 14 and then by the Board of Recreation and Parks remains in effect.

“The proposal is that the fee take effect July 1. That means the period from Jan. 1 to July 1, 2011, will have been free of charge to all of you community gardeners,” said commission President Barry Sanders. “So that means it’ll have been $5 a month this calendar year and $10 a month next calendar year.”

In explaining the reason for the fee hike, Sanders said the city has already reduced the parks department’s budget and staff by 40 percent to save on expenses, and now the department must pay for its water and other utilities.

As the cost of providing services to the public continues to rise, the department must increase fees to effectively operate the parks and facilities, Sanders said. 

“An $8 a month increase is in fact, I’m well aware, a serious hardship for some people. But those people, I’m happy to say, are few among us,” Sanders said during the meeting. “For the rest of us, $8 a month is only $8 a month. ... [It] is not a ridiculous or exorbitant increase, and it still doesn’t get us to [full] cost recovery."

In addition to raising the plot fees, the department recommended a set of operating procedures and policies for nine of the city's 14 public gardens.

Recreation and Parks proposed that community gardens should limit three plots per household for a term of three years, in order to extend the gardening experience to as many people as possible. The department also said community gardens shall be made open to the general public during the park's operating hours, sunrise to sunset seven days a week.

“Their thinking is flawed,” said Encino gardener Susan Pingleton at the meeting. “A garden rental is not like an apartment rental, where you pack up your furniture and move it to a new one. Uproot plants and they die. A garden is a living, evolving thing…and frankly, most people who garden in the public gardens do so because they don’t have a permanent home or a yard to plant things in.”

Sanders suggested that the department rethink the three-year term limit in favor of a “use it or lose it” approach. He requested that the policy be revised and brought back to the next meeting on April 18 for a vote.

After the initial protests from gardeners throughout Los Angeles, the commission directed city staff to review the existing policies, pricing and procedures at each community garden facility. Encino gardeners said that in a subsequent parks department report on garden costs, released Jan. 5, figures for the Sepulveda Garden Center were filled with errors. It stated that the city's annual cost per plot was $196.

In a revised report, released Wednesday the department estimated the annual cost per plot at the Sepulveda Garden Center was $177.

“We don’t know exactly the amount,” Sanders admitted. “People can quibble about the calculations…maybe it’s only $150 or $160, but it’s not $120. So we’re not at full cost recovery. There’s still some subsidy.”

However, the decision of fee increases at the Sepulveda Garden Center won’t be made without the approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Sepulveda Garden Center is located on land owned by the corps and leased to the city. The corps has final jurisdiction over park lands and must approve all fee increases.

Darryl Ford, the department's management analyst, explained that the department must submit a request to the corps for the proposed $120 rate no later than April 15, according to the lease.

Local City Council representatives and community gardeners alike suggested gardeners organize a central governing body that can better help to oversee community garden policy.

“We would be delighted to have them be self-governed. And then the rules can be set internally,” Sanders said. “The only constraints are that they be open to the public in the fashion that was described….and that they limit individuals to three plots each.”

Encino Patch, has been following the community garden controversy. Here are links to our exclusive coverage:

Nov. 16
Now that the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks must pay for its water supplies and utilities, the rates for the Sepulveda Garden Center and other local facilities are increasing.

Nov. 24
Discussion closed, L.A. parks department tells residents at public meeting.

Dec. 8
L.A. Recreation and Parks board calls for analysis of community gardens to verify the need for a significant fee increase.

Dec. 15
Sepulveda Garden Center users are among those appearing before a city panel Tuesday to oppose annual plot fee increase.

Jan. 10
In an attempt at 'cost recovery,' the city wants to increase fees for community gardeners. A new fee schedule is expected in March, following more study.

March 22
An official of the city's Department of Recreation and Parks admitted to errors in a report on figuring the costs of community gardens during a meeting at the Sepulveda Garden Center in Encino.