A Sonoma County effort to boost local food production on county-owned lands is set to launch soon in small corner of a troubled park in The Springs area of Sonoma Valley.
Larson Regional Park, off DeChene Avenue, has been plagued in recent years by gang activity, vandalism and other after-hours problems.
But community leaders hope the planned garden patch will help them reclaim the park and promote healthier eating and living.
"These are the goals. It's in a very strategic place," said Zuli Baron, a community organizer with St. Joseph Health Systems and one of the founding members of the Springs Community Garden Coalition.
The group, which includes more than two dozen nonprofit agencies, local government agencies and individuals, has worked since late 2009 to launch the garden project.
Nuestra Voz, the Sonoma Valley nonprofit, was chosen to lead the effort, overseeing garden construction and upkeep.
The 23 vegetable beds, occupying about 1,000 square feet, are set to go in on the west side of the existing baseball field. The garden is expected to serve 40 to 60 families and is planned for use in outdoor education and community forums.
Construction and setup costs of $30,000 will be covered through fundraising, grants and donation of labor and materials. County officials said they do not expect to incur extra costs in park administration.
The project prompted glowing remarks Tuesday from supervisors, who approved a one-year license agreement with Nuestra Voz, with a provision for a four-year extension.
Supervisor Valerie Brown, who represents the area, said the garden marked a turning point for the predominantly Latino community and a "landlocked, out-of-sight, out-of-mind" park.
"Now it has the ownership of the people," she said.
Nuestra Voz Executive Director Alejandra Cervantes, who has been pushing a community garden in The Springs for years, cheered its approval.
"I'm really grateful," she said, ticking off a long list of supporters.
A 10 a.m. ground-breaking ceremony Saturday at Larson Regional Park will kick off the project.
It is the first in a county-wide effort to open up pieces of park land, open space and other vacant county property to gardeners and small farmers. A wider swath of county range land also would be made available to livestock ranchers.
The effort is seen as a key way to bolster local agriculture and provide easier access to high-quality food, especially for low-income populations. An inventory on suitable lands, originally due out in June, has been pushed back to September when officials said they'll have a final report on the application process and lease rates for farmers and ranchers.
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