The efforts to save the Ballard P-Patch from development have taken another step forward, with the King County Council recommending allocation of funds to help the gardeners buy their half-acre plot.
The King County Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to recommend that the Conservation Futures program award funding to the P-Patch in order to help them purchase the property, as well as the adjacent property, thus protecting it all as an urban natural area.
The cost to buy the small garden plot is $1.95 million. While the council legislation doesn’t outright fund the purchase of the property, it “expresses the council’s interest in preserving the property and directs the CFT program to prioritize funding for the project.”
The CFT program uses funding from the Conservation Futures tax levy, which sometimes uses matching funds from parks levy proceeds to conserve open space lands through a public application process.* The Ballard P-Patch stakeholders would still be required to submit a full application and wait for the CFT advisory committee to review the request. Once the CFT committee makes its recommendations to the King County Council and Executive, a final decision will be made.
If it’s approved in July, the sale will move forward, and the deed will likely be held by GROW Northwest, which owns a number of other community gardens around the city.
The county funding would cover a substantial part of the cost, but must be met by a 1:1 cash match, Ballard P-Patch Leadership Chair Cindy Krueger tells My Ballard. The funds are not released until those matches are met,” so we have a multi-year effort ahead of us,” she says.*
*Editorial update for clarification
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Wow, GREAT news! Thanks to all the people who have worked so hard to keep this open space. I’m sure developers would prefer the four houses that would’ve been built, but I know the majority of locals would much rather have the garden over high-end homes.
Umm, just who is King County? Is it a him, or a her? Or, is it us, the taxpaying publics money. Dying on this vegetable hill is to me like peeing in the ocean. Aren’t there farmers markets daily and stores open 24/7 selling vegetables? I get your struggle here but, the toothpaste has already been stomped out of the tube here in what’s left of Seattle.
if its any consolation to you, this pea patch donates a lot of produce to the Ballard Food Bank, i thank them.
Quick Paintking, call KOMO and tell them they have their Seattle is Dying 2 topic: communist vegetable gardens! This also corroborates Fox News story about how Seattle is a communist hell hole!
Oh if only we had listened to your delusional ramblings, we could have closed all our P-Patches and become the conservative utopia you’ve been trying to turn us on to!!!
White people always get what they want
Did you frigging ask each and every white person then? This is NOT about you or your demented one note samba. Don’t go away mad sugar t*ts, just go away.
you will find when your not lazy and educated,good things may happen
Meghan – This announcement is exciting, but is somewhat misleading. And there are a few errors in this article. Can we get them corrected please? We can communicate through the Ballard P-Patch email system, info@ballardppatch.org
What. A. Waste. Of. Money.
And I just wrote to the council letting them know. This city needs more housing not play spaces for well-off boomers.