Updates on PS 133: A Clear Sidewalk, But Where’s the Garden?

The construction of a new building for PS 133 on 4th Avenue between Baltic and Butler has been chugging along. This morning, Brooklyn Spoke noticed that the temporary construction barriers along the sidewalk on 4th Ave were finally removed, clearing space for pedestrians, which is great. But, also this morning, Brownstoner got some news about the school’s community garden, and it seems a little sad.

According to plans laid out by the School Construction Authority, they intended to replace the Baltic Street Community Garden at the new school site, but acknowledged in response to comments that the square-footage for the garden would be smaller than the former space.

“Therefore,” the final environmental impact statement says, “the proposed project would not result in a significant adverse impact to publicly accessible open space and recreational facilities.”

A tipster sent a pic of the space as of this weekend to Brownstoner, and noted:

Anyone who wants to garden there — parents at the school, former gardeners — will need to bring in everything from scratch — and pay for it. No paths, raised beds, no obvious drainage, dirt, tool shed, benches — nothing but asphalt.

The SCA made plans to relocate trees, vines, and other plants during the period of construction, but we’re not sure what the details are for the construction of the actual garden. There was a lot of talk about providing the space, but does anyone know what the SCA’s responsibility is — are they supposed to be creating the garden, or just making the space available?

We’ll try to find out more details, but if anyone has details, please let us know.