In a split four to two decision, Jasper town council has voted to support the Lions Club community garden and the Jasper Local Food Group. Council will now ask Jasper National Park to change the lease on the land to allow the garden, which should initially occupy around two per cent of the park in the south-east corner, to go forward.

However, according to Jasper National Parks spokesperson Thea Mitchell, the lease that the Lions Club currently operates under on the park states that area is zoned as green space. She said no amendment was needed to the lease to open the gardens, which appears to render council’s decision for a lease change moot. She said the park’s interpretation of the current lease is gardens are allowed in green spaces and if the Lions Club and the leaseholder wants to let other people operate gardens, that is their prerogative and parks will not interfere.

Town Manager George Krefting said council’s vote on the garden would still serve as a measure of whether or not council supported the garden, even if it was not necessary.

The vote of support was done in the face of fairly serious opposition at council’s May 4 general meeting. Several people spoke against the garden, concerned that it would take away from children’s ability to play in the park. 

“I agree with your concept, but I don’t agree with your space,” said one woman in opposition to the food group.

A petition signed by more than 90 people in Jasper was informally presented to council by Ray Knight, who took the lead in opposing the garden. He claimed he would be able to get 2,000 signatures against the garden had he more time. The petition stated that green space in Jasper was too valuable to turn into a garden. 

“Everyone in town wants green space left in place, no one wants to lose it,” said Knight, who helped to organize the petition and who lives near the Lions Park. “I worry that once you open up that space, it’s going to be eaten up, a little bit by a little bit.”

He said the garden would likely result in more vandalism in the park as drunken kids would go there to steal vegetables and cause trouble. 

“This is really unbelievable,” said Mayor Richard Ireland. “We considered this to be a wonderful opportunity to unite the community, not to divide it . . . How is growing things in a park not appropriate?”

“I’m completely caught off guard that there would be any opposition to this,” said Councillor Mike Day. “This is the kind of thing we heard was wanted in the sustainability plan.”

Dave Neilson, President of the Lions Club, said he’s heard of some opposition to the garden, but he believed  it was somewhat minor. He said he had talked to the majority of the people who serve on the Lions Club, and they were all in favour of the plan to open the garden.

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with using that space,” said Helmut Kreiner, who also serves on the Lions Club board.

Members from the food group told council they had no intentions of going past the initial two per cent of gardening space in the park, but they had permission for possible expansion from the Lions. They said expansion was possible however, and that it may happen at sites outside of the Lions Park, including in willing participants’ front and back yards. 

 “We think this is really just a wonderful opportunity to build community,” said Tracy McKay, one of the members of the food group.

Other people in the crowd said that children learning about how food is grown and about where their food comes from was a wonderful thing. They believed that instead of imposing a burden on kids in the park, it would give them something valuable.

Councillor Brenda Zinck proposed a motion at council which would have delayed council’s vote on the garden. She wanted the two disparate sides to work together to draw up a more formal plan for the garden which both sides could agree on. Knight told council that he had no intention of working with the food group to develop a better plan and Counc. Zinck’s motion was subsequently voted down three votes to three (Councillor Gloria Kongsrud was not present).

Councillors Zinck and Ralph Melnyk voted against the bylaw supporting the garden. Councillor Zinck said she supported the garden, just not this particular part of the process, which she believed was moving too fast.