(C) Verite News New Orleans This story was originally published by Verite News New Orleans and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . City Park says it won’t renew Grow Dat’s lease after 2027 [1] ['Drew Costley', 'More Drew Costley', 'Verite News'] Date: 2024-04-05 Amid a dispute over the future of Grow Dat Youth Farm, City Park Conservancy is not planning on renewing a long-term lease in City Park where the farm and youth program operates after the current lease expires in 2027, according to emails obtained by Verite News. In addition to saying it’s not renewing the lease, the nonprofit conservancy that operates City Park for the city of New Orleans claimed in the emails that Grow Dat owes a quarter million dollars in back rent. “While difficult, we made this decision for a number of reasons. One reason is that the lessee owes more than a quarter of a million dollars in back rent,” a park official wrote in a March 28 email. “This creates challenges for the park, as we incur maintenance and operations expenses in the daily work of the park.” But Grow Dat said it has never received formal communication about overdue rent. The emails from late last month were sent to New Orleans residents in response to feedback over the conservancy’s plan to build a road through Grow Dat’s current location. The proposed road, part of the park’s master redevelopment plan, which is expected to be complete by the end of the year, has been met with criticism. On March 21, at least 150 supporters of Grow Dat attended a public meeting held by the park to get feedback on the portion of the master plan that deals with the park’s water systems. At the meeting, the supporters expressed outrage at the park’s plan to build a road through the farm’s current location. After that meeting, Grow Dat supporters emailed the park with more feedback opposing its plan to displace the farm in favor of a road connecting the north and south sides of the park. Several heard back from the park with the news about not renewing the lease in emails that they sent to Grow Dat, which then forwarded them to Verite News. City Park Conservancy officials, who did not respond to requests for comment on this story, also made several other claims about Grow Dat in the emails. The conservancy said it has been in touch with Grow Dat for over three years about the possibility of moving and that Grow Dat has consulted with the conservancy in the past about moving to a new location in the park. They also claimed that Grow Dat has admitted in the past that its present location has poor soil quality leading to failed harvests, and that the farm uses fertilizers that harm waterways and water systems in the park. Shortly after residents reached out to Grow Dat about the park’s claims, Grow Dat responded with an email of its own, claiming to have never received any formal communication about being behind on rent. Grow Dat also refuted the conservancy’s claims about moving locations, poor soil quality and fertilizer use. “Our organization has never expressed a desire to move locations,” the farm said in an email to supporters. “Many ideas have come up over the past 12 years about how Grow Dat’s site might change, from potentially expanding the farm to hosting a bike lane on our site, but none of these plans were confirmed.” Grow Dat leadership did not respond to a question from Verite News about whether the group owes back rent, but did provide a statement indicating that talks with the conservancy are ongoing. Responding to whether the farm’s use of fertilizer negatively affects the park’s water quality, Grow Dat said it has done lots of work – including removing invasive plants and planting native ones and installing systems that reduce erosion and filter stormwater runoff – to steward the land. The group also drew a comparison between their agricultural practices and what the rest of the park does to maintain its landscape. “Unlike high-intervention landscaping methods employed in other parts of City Park,” the email reads, “Grow Dat’s low-impact best practices in sustainable agriculture contribute to high crop yields while ensuring minimal negative impact to the land and water’s ecology.” In public remarks, park officials have appeared to remain steadfast in their desire to move forward with the planned road in spite of growing opposition from members of public and local officials. During the March 21 meeting, City Park Conservancy CEO Cara Lambright said the road was necessary to improve access to and inside the park. Ann Haley, one of the New Orleans residents who reached out to City Park with feedback, said she fears the park will push through with its plans to build the road through Grow Dat’s current site. “I am disappointed in the response I received from CPC and am concerned that numerous people must have revived the same response filled with misinformation,” she wrote in an email to Verite. On Friday (April 5), New Orleans City Councilmember JP Morrell released a public statement expressing opposition to the park’s plans to build a road through Grow Dat. “It is beyond me why a nonprofit such as the City Park Conservancy who claims to prioritize conservancy measures would plan to construct a road that would decimate this popular and sustainable youth program,” he said. Julie Gable and Callie Rubbins-Breen, Grow Dat’s co-executive directors, said in a written statement to Verite that they’ve met with park officials multiple times since late March to discuss the planned road. While the statement struck an optimistic tone, it was not clear as of publication time whether anything — such as an offer for an alternative site in the park — has yet materialized from the meetings. “The future of the park and Grow Dat’s long term presence in it is up to City Park Conservancy and the people of New Orleans,” Gable and Rubbins-Breen said. “We at Grow Dat appreciate [City Park Conservancy’s] responsiveness this week. …. We believe this is the beginning of a process that we hope will culminate in Grow Dat’s inclusion in our current location in the master plan.” Related Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. 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