Long Beach Organic (LBO) has secured a lease for a new community garden on the 3100 Block of Long Beach Boulevard.
If all goes well with the permitting process, the garden will open to the public later this year, according to LBO Garden Director Joe Corso. The Long Beach Boulevard site will be LBO’s ninth community garden space.
Corso first reached out to the owners of the vacant lot in 2016, but said the owners were “hesitant” to lease them the space.
“It’s asking a lot to let strangers on your property to garden for five years,” Corso said. “But what really tipped the scales was the recent legislation called the Urban Agriculture Incentive […] they get an enormous tax break on their property tax.”
The California legislature passed Assembly Bill 551 in 2013, which allowed cities to opt-in to a program whereby landowners in metropolitan areas can receive tax incentives for putting their land into agricultural use—such as community gardens and urban farms.
Long Beach opted into the program in 2017, creating the Long Beach Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone (UAIZ) program.
The program allows owners of vacant lots within the city—those between 0.1 and 3 acres in size—to lend their property for five years of agricultural use in exchange for “potentially drastically reduced” property taxes, according to Long Beach Sustainability Coordinator Larry Rich.
When the program launched in Long Beach, Vice Mayor Rex Richardson called the program a “win-win situation” and Councilmember Roberto Uranga said it would “prevent vacant lots from becoming eyesores.”
Corso, who has been with LBO for about two decades, said that demand for gardening space is extremely high in Long Beach, especially in high-density areas near the coast. Multiple LBO gardens have waitlists of up to two years for a garden plot.
“Local food production is a positive—creating more robust local food systems and getting people the opportunities to be more connected with producing their own food,” Rich said. “And organic food in particular.”
Three other sites, including LBO’s Crown Victory Gardens at 914 Redondo Ave., have benefitted from the program.
“It was the same situation: a property owner had an empty lot, no plans to develop it, doesn’t want to sell it because obviously it’s appreciating in value. So it’s a win-win situation,” Corso said of the Crown Victory Gardens site. “They get a tax break, and we take the property off their hands and maintain it for them.”
The 15,000-square-foot double lot on Long Beach Boulevard leaves room for more than just garden plots. LBO is currently brainstorming ideas for the space: an orchard, a sensory garden for teaching, water capture experiments and composting, according to Corso.
Corso said that, although LBO has raised money for a new garden, the organization won’t break ground until they have the permit in hand, which he estimated will take about two months.
“It’s good, it’s good all around,” Corso said. “It’s good for the neighborhood, it’s good for us, it’s good for the owner.”
Residents can keep up with the status of the garden on Instagram @longbeachorganic or visit Long Beach Organic’s website at www.longbeachorganic.org.
