WAUPUN — The Waupun Community Garden and Waupun City Council decided to suspend the garden for the year after members of the community spoke at the City Council meeting Tuesday evening.
The Council previously granted the use of the Welch Street lot to the Community Gardens back in March, but after the meeting last week the Community Garden announced they would be canceling this year and members refunded.
“Normally at the Committee of the Whole meeting we don’t have public comment and discussion, however I thought this was the kind of issue that we should follow up on last week,” Mayor Bishop said at the beginning of the meeting. “This has gotten a lot of attention in the community and it’s got me a lot of phone calls and emails. And we’d like to know where the community wants to go with the Community Garden going forward.”
Mayor Bishop then gave a short history on the Community Gardens, including the several moves and what happened at the previous meeting the week before. Following this, Mayor Bishop invited individuals in the audience to address the Council.
The first to address the Council was Jason Whitford. When the news broke about the Community Gardens last week Whitford was one of the first to criticize the City Council for their decision, and expressed his displeasure about how the City handled the matter at the previous meeting. He criticized the Council for standing down from their decision in March to put the gardens on Welch Street due to a handful of people who did not understand what benefits the Gardens would bring to their neighborhood.
Whitford also criticized the Welch Street residents for coming to the City Council so late in the process when the Council had been discussing locations for several months, and for making such an issue of a garden on an empty lot. “We’re talking about a community garden here, not a prison,” Whitford said.
The second speaker was Gary Chase, a resident of the neighborhood. He began by asking what the City Council would think if “after 38 years” their next door lot was changed from an empty lot to a garden. He passed around a few pictures of the lot with the new sign to the City Council. Chase then pointed out how vandalism is one of the concerns for the proposed locations of the garden at city parks, and why that same concern isn’t also applied to a residential neighborhood. Mayor Bishop explained that the vandalism problems are primarily in park bathrooms, and that vandals aren’t likely to hang around a garden.
“It’s these water jugs,” Chase said about his opposition to the gardens. “I’ve seen every community garden since they’ve been out on Brown Street. At the end of the year, they look like crap.”
The third speaker was one of the Welch Street residents returning from the last meeting, Todd Dahl. At the previous meeting Dahl had expressed his concerns about established water sources and public bathroom facilities, suggesting moving a current park instead.
“I’m not opposed to a community garden at all,” Dahl said. “I just have issues with possible parking, which is why I thought a park would be better. There’s also established water, which would be beneficial [for the gardens].”
Dahl mentioned Fire Chief DeMaa’s statements from the previous meeting, where he said that the Fire Department are the ones filling the jugs. Dahl argued that water should be established where the community garden is located. Mayor Bishop repeated what they said at the previous meeting, that most city parks don’t have outside spigots for public use. The parks that do have spigots require a special key and have to be monitored for use which is not feasible for regular garden use.
Up next was Charles Layman, who echoed Chase’s sentiments about keeping the gardens out of their respective neighborhoods. He also expressed his concerns about whether the gardens or property would be well maintained during the summer and at the end of the season.
The fifth speaker was Terri Respalje, who runs both the Waupun Food Pantry and is in charge of organizing the Waupun Community Garden. She explained her reasons for canceling the plans for this year, primarily that she did not want the gardens to be in a place that is unwelcome.
“When we started this 15 years ago, it was meant to give people a better place to raise their kids, to put a garden in, to do something constructive with their hands,” Respalje said. “I don’t want people going into a neighborhood that they’re not going to be welcome. I will never put anybody in harm and that’s what it’s gonna be. It’s not gonna be physical but they’re going to feel that ‘ickiness’ there, and I don’t want that for anybody. That’s not what we’re about.”
Mayor Bishop then asked her when planting needs to start, but Respalje wasn’t able to answer as she was not a gardener herself. Respalje described the deal that the Community Garden members have with the Waupun Food Pantry, that they should donate some amount of their crops to the food pantry after harvest, “whether that be a bagful or a truckful,” she said.
“I read all this stuff on Facebook and it makes my heart really sad, because it’s just a garden,” Respalje said. “Some of the comments that people have been saying about what kinds of people it brings in—what? It’s not a bar, it’s not a camper site, it’s a garden. They till the ground, they get their hands dirty, they plant, and they get a harvest. It’s not like criminals are going to go plant a garden.”
“I’ve been praying, I’ve been on my knees, I’m like, God, there’s gotta be a better outlook for us as a community to come together to support a piece of land that somebody can plant a stinkin’ tomato and go home and make something with it,” Respalje concluded.
Respalje maintained her decision to suspend the community garden for this year to allow the city to have time to come up with a better plan for next year. Mayor Bishop asked if that was her official recommendation to the city so they could take it into consideration, which she agreed.
The final speaker was Jaedon Buchholz, who asked about whether the gardens could return to the original location at the former Christian school for the summer before construction begins on the Senior Center project. However, the Council pointed out that this would not work due to the aggressive construction schedule for the Senior Center, since groundbreaking begins in August before harvest begins.
Buchholz also asked about whether remaining green space on the Senior Center lot could be used for the gardens once the facility is completed but that location was determined to not have enough space, according to Dan Siebers who is on the associated committee.
Following public comment the City Council discussed the full list of options for potential community garden locations. Each plot came with a photo and a list of pros and cons for the location, noting soil quality, parking, and facilities such as outdoor water and bathrooms. A full list with the plots can be found in the meeting agenda packet on the city website.
The considered locations were as follows:
Vision Triangle at intersection of Main and County Park Road
West End Park
N. Madison Street Dog Park
Lot between Taco Bell and AmericInn on Shaler Drive
Area off Shaler and Bayberry Ln
1357 Watertown St. (Where the house was removed)
Land in the Business Park
McCune Park
Oak Lane Park on Fern Street
Land across from Waupun Utilities on S. Madison Street
As the current lot on Welch Street was unlikely to be used for this year, the Council didn’t take a vote but came to a consensus that they would decide on a better location elsewhere in the city for next year.
