Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Neighborhood attempts to preserve large lots of land unique to Birchwood

Birchwood Neighborhood Association Board member Dan Welch said using the large lots of land in Birchwood for something productive that gives back to the community, will justify having them and help to preserve this unique feature of the neighborhood.

The neighborhood association meeting on Tuesday May 25 focused on urban gardening and getting the community involved with gardening projects. Board member Barbara Campbell said the land available in the neighborhood makes Birchwood able to accommodate many gardens.

According to Welch, the Growth Management Act requires that cities plan to accommodate for increased population. Because homes in Birchwood sit on lots larger than those in most of Bellingham’s neighborhoods, he feels that it is a target for development, he said.

“I organized (the meeting) because it’s something Birchwood can latch onto and sort of justify having these large lots,” he said.

The board’s president, Adrienne Battis said the city asks neighborhoods to develop plans that will account for how they will meet population growth. The board wants to preserve the size of land lots in the neighborhood, she said.

She said she is concerned that if zoning changes in the future some of the large lots of land will be divided into multiple lots when sold, something that is restricted now by minimum size requirements for land lots.

Battis said the neighborhood wants to use the land for gardening to highlight it as a strength in the neighborhood. Gardening gives residents the opportunity to use their land resources and share them with the rest of the community.

Welch said neighborhood residents have been reactive to development in the past.

According to a random sample mail in survey conducted by the board last summer, over 51 percent of Birchwood residents think the large lots of land in the neighborhood are the most important thing to preserve. Other popular options listed on the survey were single-family housing, beach and trail access, and trees and vegetation.

The survey allowed residents to choose up to three features, all of which were included in the survey based on feedback from residents of the neighborhood at a neighborhood association meeting.

Campbell said 600 surveys were sent out and over three-hundred were returned. This is a high level of return for mail in surveys, she said.

Speakers at the meeting promoted urban gardening in the community

The guest speakers at Tuesday’s meeting provided ways for community members to gain access to the tools and education needed to garden at home. They came representing five projects and groups.

Two of the groups at the meeting, the Small Potatoes Gleaning Project, and BUGS, help people farm their land at home and give them the tools and labor needed to do it, at no cost. Small Potatoes takes the produce and distributes it to local food banks.

The Backyard Beans and Grains Project encourages Bellingham residents to use local seeds in their gardens and participate in seed swaps, events at which people bring their excess seed and trade them for others, Krista Rome, director said at the meeting.

Homestead Habitats operates as a for-profit business, and provides construction and landscaping services, as well as education about maintaining a garden.

The Whatcom County School Garden Collective currently has two school garden projects in Birchwood, one at Birchwood Elementary and one a Shuksan Middle School.

Welch said to outsiders, it may not look like the land in Birchwood is used to its fullest potential, but residents using their land in this way and participating in these community projects will use it productively and feed a lot of people in Bellingham in the process.

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