As Community Garden Readies to Expand, Madison Residents Angrily Speak Out

The Chatham Community Garden has been planning to expand for several months. There is a long waiting list for plots, and the 40 half plots that are each 10 x 20 feet are not enough to fulfill the community's desire for a garden, according to organizers.

But some Madison residents along Brooklake Road—the street adjacent to PSE&G land where the new garden would be placed next spring—have expressed their displeasure with the plans, saying the expansion would threaten their quality of life.

Those residents say they are concerned about the increased traffic the project could bring and say it could also have an aesthetic effect as well. They have started a petition and say non-Brooklake Road residents have also signed it.

"You wonder about the zoning, the property values, the congestion and the traffic now," Irene Knobloch said. Knobloch lives at 30 Brooklake Road. "And they are just taking the open space."

Knobloch and her husband Hank joined Rosemarie Frank of 34 Brooklake Road to speak about their displeasure with the project. Irene Knobloch said she feels as though the garden plots and the parking lot are more like a small farm than a garden.

Chatham Borough recently completed a contract with PSE&G to lease the land for $1 a year, which also includes an existing community garden on the south side of Main Street.

The proposal would put along the Chatham side of Brooklake Road two­ garden areas of 30 plots each. Each plot would be twice as big as the current plots—they would each be 10 x 20 feet.

The plans also include a 45 x 120 parking lot with a 20-foot driveway sitting between the two officially proposed gardens.

Chatham Borough Mayor Nelson Vaughan said he came to a Madison Borough Council meeting July 26 to answer any questions residents had about the proposed expansion. He said he received what he felt was an unexpected welcome from those in attendance.

"We ran into three people who just didn't want any change," Vaughan said.

The borough wants to construct a gravel lot near the garden that would allow several cars to park there. It will also install a fence.

Vaughan said Brooklake Road residents were worried the lot would be used as a park and ride area for commuters. But Vaughan said that would likely not happen, and pointed out that a similar lot in front of the current community garden across the street is not used for those purposes.

"I really don't think they understood the concept at all," Vaughan said.

Garden coordinator Marcy Wecker said she did not feel the project would affect traffic in the Brooklake area.

"Right now we only have 40 people that have plots (in the current garden)," she said. "There's only going to be a difference of 20 additional lots."

She said that there are very few cars that use a parking lot at the current garden at any given moment.

Wecker also noted gardening is not a particularly aggressive activity.

"There's no lights. There's no sound system. We don't allow radios to play. There's no gardening at night," she said. "It's a seasonal activity. Nobody's going to be there for the winter months."

But Hank Knobloch said the last thing he wants to see is a similar parking lot to the current one that exists at the corner of Main Street and Division Street across from his house.

"They want to put gravel down," he said. "Look at that lot—it's all torn up. It's dusty, It's filthy."

Residents also want to know why Chatham Borough wants to put the gardens where it would directly abut both Madison and Chatham Borough residents. They believe there are spots that make more sense.

"They could go between Kings and Woodland Roads," said Hank Knobloch, who also wondered why the plots couldn't be placed directly next to the existing gardens on the Chatham Borough side of Division Street. "There are no houses along it like (on Brooklake Road). Maybe there is one house at the beginning of the lot, but that's about it."

The Brooklake Road residents said the borough has talked to them about giving them free plots in the gardens in return for building it across the road. Vaughan said he believes Chatham Borough has done what it can to smooth over the relationship.

"We did everything we could to chat with these ladies and talk to them and they just didn't listen," he said.

Madison Mayor Mary-Anna Holden has asked whether there is possibility to have the entranceway to a parking lot come from a Chatham Borough side street instead of from Brooklake Road, which is shared by both municipalities.

However, Holden, who is currently on vacation and doesn't currently have access to any new or soon-to-be passed documents by Chatham Borough, says she can't truly find the answer to or comment about that or any other questions she may have about the site.

"Without seeing plans, I can't really see if there is an other opportunity to move the gardens more on the Chatham side and/or bring cars in off their side streets," Holden said.

For now, Vaughan said, the borough is planning on moving forward with its plan to extend the garden's size. Organizers believe in the plan, and he said that seeing "flowers across the street, instead of an overgrown field which is barely ever cut, would be nice."

"I think it's just kind of a blip," he said.