Saratoga begins work on community garden renovations

Saratoga residents are on track to have access to a renovated community garden at El Quito Park by next March.

The city’s parks and recreation commission began discussing the renovations at a meeting earlier this month, where they heard feedback from community members on what improvements the garden needs. Commission chair Badri Sridharan said the garden has been in need of repair and updates for some time, and the commission began planning for these renovations after the city council allocated $157,000 to fund the repairs.

“The city is currently in the early stages of planning and gathering community input,” Mayor Yan Zhao said in an email. “We look forward to hearing from our gardeners as we continue to plan the future renovations of the community garden.”

Sridharan said Bridget Cash, the commission’s liaison with the city, presented a rough outline of what the community garden renovations could look like at a July 9 meeting. The goal of the renovation is to increase safety, ADA accessibility and equity for residents in terms of plot size, water access and shared tools and resources.

The commission will continue to have discussions with the community at its Sept. 10 and Nov. 12 meetings if needed, Sridharan said.

“The goal of the initial plan is to solicit feedback,,” he added. “It’s not to say ‘hey we’re going to build this and you have no input.'”

A handful of community members came to the July 9 meeting, he said, largely expressing the desire for larger plot sizes, which the commission has taken into account to design the renovation plans.

Sridharan said the commission will finalize the design after the two meetings, and the city will execute the renovations this winter. Construction will begin in November or December, according to the city’s website.