Neighbor Hopes to Turn Vacant Lot Behind Church Ave Station Into Community Garden

The empty lot on East 18th Street just behind the Church Avenue subway station has long been an eyesore, overgrown with weeds in the summer, collecting litter year-round. But recent Ditmas Park neighbor Anne Schoeneborn and Prospect Lefferts Gardens resident Ali Jacobs are trying to change that, and through 596 Acres, they’re attempting to turn the unused space into a community garden.

“I walk past the lot every day on my way to the train, so the idea of turning it into a community garden just occurred to me one day,” said Anne, who moved to the neighborhood from Washington Heights last fall, partially because she wanted more access to green space.

Some of the challenges with this lot are that it’s owned by New York City Transit, which can mean wading through a lot of red tape, and that, simply, it’s a plot of land in a city where land isn’t easy to come by.

“The folks at MTA real estate are concerned that the train tunnel beneath this lot is too close to the surface for the ground to be able to bear a load,” Paula from 596 Acres wrote on their site.

When Anne followed up with Arturo Espinza of the MTA real estate department, he explained that the owner of the adjacent parking lot wanted to expand into this vacant lot about 10 years ago, but an engineer found that the ground couldn’t hold that kind of weight. Theoretically, the weight of a garden wouldn’t cause the same concerns.

Additionally, MTA’s Andrew Inglesby “mentioned that a lot of entities have expressed interest in this lot in the past,” Anne wrote, “and I assured him that we are conducting broad-based community organization efforts (and already have the support of a number of community stakeholders).”

Though the process with the MTA is slow, the women are using the time to plan for the garden in a number of ways. It’s a small lot, just 0.294 acres, but they hope to turn it into a productive urban garden. They explain in their proposal:

In the first year, we envision developing a shared, communal garden (without any individual plots), with a series of raised beds, rain barrels, and a composting bin. We believe the communal garden model will allow us to make the most of the space, and hope to grow a range of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. We hope to engage the local community, particularly children, as much as possible—and believe this high-traffic corner is an ideal location.

They want to involve interested community members in a series of meetings, where they’ll discuss membership caps, rules, hours, and more. The first meeting is Tuesday, March 12 at 8pm. If you’d like to get involved, contact Anne at aschoene@gmail.com for the meeting location, and for more info.