BRIDGEPORT — Operators of the Reservoir Community Farm have the opportunity to extend their lease with the city for at least five years, but the draft document does not guarantee they will be allowed to stay if and when a new library is built on the 1.5-acre site.
“It would be helpful to have that written into the lease,” Eleanor Angerame, executive director of Green Village Initiative, admitted in an interview this week. “But it was made clear to us that that’s not something that would go into the lease and would go into future negotiations.”
Still, Angerame and other supporters of the decade-old North End urban farm urged the City Council at a public hearing Tuesday to pass the agreement in the coming weeks, calling it the result of “deep and heartfelt compromise.”
“It is staked on the belief that if you allow us to continue our mission on Reservoir Community Farm, that we can have a future that includes collaboration with the library and potentially lets us serve many more generations of Bridgeporters,” she said.
“We see synergy in combining literacy and urban farming,” Angerame added.
Though a popular local attraction for those who want to grow or just buy fresh produce, in recent years some neighborhood leaders have pressured Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration to let the farm’s lease, approved under his predecessor, Mayor Bill Finch, to expire this coming March 31 to build a new library on the Reservoir Avenue and Yaremich Drive lot. In 2020 the council set aside $2 million in the municipal five-year capital plan — the budget for large infrastructure projects — for a “new North End/Reservoir Avenue library branch.”
That resulted in some tension, with Angerame at this time last year confronting council members about what she considered to be behind-the-scenes maneuvering.
“We were alarmed to discover plans already in place … to convert the urban farm site and green space into a public library,” Angerame had said. “We seek more open and transparent communications from you.”
And that occurred, thanks in part to the city’s library board, which ultimately has responsibility for planning and funding its new library facilities. And by last fall the sides had agreed on a tentative plan for the farm and a library to share the land.
“That’s the library’s position,” Jim O’Donnell, the library board’s chairman, said last October. “I attended an informative session the farm had put together back in late September and they had some rough ideas how the property might be used. It would be a shame for them to lose all the good work they do there when I think we can work hand-in-glove together.”
“We think the farm would be a good partner for the library. It leads to healthy eating (and) it’s a good activity for kids to get involved in in the summer,” Tom Errichetti, the library board’s treasurer, had stated at that time. “We weren’t looking to displace them, but got a sense the community wants a library there and that’s the best parcel. I think the city is supportive of whatever we can come to terms with.”
Bill Coleman, Bridgeport’s deputy director of economic development, in a written statement, said the new lease “sets up the framework for sharing the site and for supporting both of these important institutions.”
“I don’t have a choice but to believe that. Ultimately the devil’s in the details,” Angerame said this week, adding she believes talks with the economic development office and the library board have been in “good faith.”
She noted O’Donnell in particular “seems to be really eager for a future that combines our work, and he’s really respectful of the work we do (and) understands the value of the land and the way it impacts community.”
During Tuesday’s public hearing several individuals who use, live near or have visited the Reservoir Community Farm urged the council to help preserve it.
“It’s difficult for me to understand how we’re even here tonight,” Victoria Majewski said, arguing there should be no question about the attraction’s future, touting not just the benefits of fresh produce but a green space that aids in mental health.
Majewski added “we have plenty of libraries in the city” and “a farm can never easily be moved.”
Angie Staltaro testified, “If it’s needed to have a library, use a portion of the land. Work together. Because this is something that is unique for Bridgeport.”
Diane Chappell not only has a garden at the farm, but is a neighbor. She said she was inspired to get involved a few years ago after watching others tend their vegetables.
“I love to cook for my family and wondered if I could grow some food to cook for them,” she told council members.
She could. And Chappell has since become a co-captain at the farm helping to oversee the work there. She spoke Tuesday about how the operation has brought so many people together and become “so much more than a lot with trash in it, thanks to seeds and water and friendship.”
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