regarding the $250,000 start up cost issue... as i dont know the details of the site in question... this project could be things: either a group over building and using paid labor / contractors to build it (with some permits, plans etc) or a city / agency project (that is required to bid out projects so it needs plans, review, etc) cost also depends on: who owns the land - city, county, state where the money is coming from.. built with grant money, local tax funds, federal funds, etc this cost is inline with community gardens on city land and built to city specifications.. this would also include prevailing wage for construction labor, staff time, permits, plans, review etc. items that run up the cost for these types of community gardens: fencing type - tubular steel fencing (may be required for some neighborhoods by design guidelines to conform to "the look" of the neighborhood of by park and rec. standards) - depending on size of parcel and umber of gates approx cost $20,000 to $50,000 (includes labor) pathways - ADA accessible paths (decomposed granite, permeable concrete, pavers, crushed stone etc) are costly and may be required by code or department building the garden. - depending on pathway areas in a garden $10,000 - $20,000 (includes labor) plots delineation - wood, stone, concrete? garden soil for beds - and other amendments other garden features - tool shed, tables, benches, shade structure, etc ADA requirements - ADA raised beds water service installation - if the parcel does not have a water source it may be costly to add a service depending on where the main water line is and how far away from the parcel to tap into it. also a engineers survey may be required to secure the water service $5,000 to $30,000 soil testing and remediation - a huge cost to remove and replace soil - approx cost depending on issues $100,000 - $450,000, soil testing is done in a random grid pattern at each 6" - 12" depths to find levels of contamination. all imported soil is tested as well. and if design / improvement plans are required to be created for the project, a landscape architect will need to be hired approx. cost $15,000 -$35,000. and if this is a city project, the city parks and rec may charge for its review, and staff time involved - approx cost $10,000 - $20,000 so you can see that there is a huge difference in the cost of the way that gardens are created: by neighbors / volunteers (without: standards to build to, city review, or labor costs) or City or other agency project (requires plans, built to standards, city review, bids, labor costs) something else to consider: is that a city / agency project will be safe from development and loss of land (for the most part ...as long as the garden is being used) vs. easily started cheaper start up gardens on borrowed land that may face eviction down the road. to reduce costs, fund raising, donations, price reductions or diiscounts, and volunteers can help reduce costs for all types of gardens. bill maynard city of sacramento dept of parks and recreation community garden program coordinator -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20090924/e8929f40/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org
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