An ad-hoc committee in Royal Oak sees the need for a community garden but also sees quite an extensive tree canopy in the city. The group began looking for some land with a lot of sun and soon found the grounds of the Royal Oak Schools Administrative Offices and Churchill Community High School.
Tom Regan and Amanda Herzog are co-leading the effort along with the Environmental Advisory Board of Royal Oak. They met with nearby city officials and volunteers that have built successful community gardens in their towns. Then they visited potential sites for the garden and their favorite was on the west side of Churchill.
Regan said that they then approached Royal Oak Schools administrators with the idea. "The next step is to have the city and school district get together and create a legal agreement," he said. "Our goal is to break ground in the spring of 2022."
"We're excited to partner with those in the community to expand gardening in Royal Oak,"' Superintendent Fitzpatrick said. "This is a great opportunity for our community members and it brings a fun project to Churchill."'
He described the program as a city program in which residents will be able to sign up for a plot just like they would sign up for an adult recreation class through Insight.
To gauge interest, they are keeping a list of people who are interested in having a plot at Churchill in Spring 2022. Contact Tom Regan by phone at 248-291-9054, or email him at [email protected] to be added to the list.
People who want to keep apprised of developments should follow the group on Facebook.
Photo Caption: Tom Regan stands next to Churchill where he hopes to start a Community Garden. (Photo: Mike McConnell)