City of Fitchburg May Buy Drumlin Community Garden Land: Wanna Bet?

This morning's Wisconsin State Journal reported a potential solution to the controversy of the development of land now used for the Drumlin Community Garden: "Alexander Co. willing to sell community garden land to Fitchburg":

Officials of the Alexander Co. said Monday they are willing to sell a controversial community gardens parcel near Rimrock Road to the city of Fitchburg.

The company, which is developing the 70-acre Novation Campus business park, also is willing to sign a lease with the Community Action Coalition to make the land available for community gardens this year and possibly in 2010.

"We want to provide a temporary solution," said company president Joe Alexander. "The onus to provide a permanent location has to be on the neighborhood."

In a letter to Fitchburg and town of Madison officials, the company proposed selling the two-acre community gardens site to Fitchburg for "fair market value determined by independent appraisal assuming the highest and best use of the property."

The land, which has been used as community gardens for the past two years, also has been farmed by tenants of two houses that Alexander plans to demolish. The tenants were told their leases were terminated on Jan. 31.

Everybody understand the meaning of "fair market value determined by independent appraisal assuming the highest and best use of the property?" As the Novation Campus business park develops, the highest and best use of property within and adjacent to it is... as a business park, not a farm or a community garden.  Vikki Kratz explained the economics and politics of the project last month in a detailed Isthmus cover story:

...Joe Alexander says Drumlin is key to the whole project. It's in a prime location, right off Highway 14. "It's the best land we have to develop on. It helps bring the campus together in a cohesive way. It's property we purchased for that intention. Purchased for a not-insignificant amount of money."

Records from Dane County Register of Deeds show that the house (Drumlin farmer Wajid) Jenkins lives at, and surrounding acreage, sold for about $3.5 million.

Will the City of Fitchburg spend many millions to buy land to maintain community gardens in the midst of a business park that both Fitchburg and the Town of Madison have committed tens of millions of TIF funds to create?  If you think the answer is "yes," I have a bridge to nowhere in Milwaukee to sell you.

- Barry Orton

Comments

[antpoppa]

Of course we need more fast money projects. Projects that have given us war, and the same type of financial and environmental return that can be promised by the Alexander Company.. projects that we are borrowing trillions of dollars to undo.

All through nature we have periods of growth, this is a natural process. But we also have reached a point of the cessation of growth.
My contention is that we have concluded the era of growth dominated by financial and quantitative metrics, and are entering an advanced era of social investing .

"Restorative Economics", is the new economics of carrying capacity, cultural and biological diversity, sense of place, care of the commons and nonviolence.
Organic farming is is about growing food without harm to natural systems and producing food that does no harm its eaters.
Organic farming is a slow money project which redefines tomorrows economics.

Borrowed from:
* Slow Money, Woody Tasch