Assignment: Finalize Project Charter, Prepare Stakeholder Register and Project Scope Statement

COMMUNITY GARDEN PARK

Jay Howard

Walden University

Nov. 05, 2017

Community Garden Park

General Project Information

Project Name: A Third-Place Foundation - Community Garden Park

Project Location: Turley USA

Proposed Project Lot size: 43,560+ square feet

Proposed Project Lot zoning: RS (Tulsa County)

Building Type(s): Community Food Preparation

Estimated Project Budget: $242,375 +/-

Land Acquisition Cost: $15,000. / $0.34 per square foot

Owner: A Third-Place Community Foundation

Type: Project Design Plan

Our Name: “A Third Place” refers to the types of public civic spaces where people meet with those who are different in many ways from themselves, for forming community spirit and connections for the greater life of the wider community. The “first place” may be the home; the “second place” may be work or a church or association of like- minded people; the “third place” is truly a diverse, and free, community space.

Our History: In January 2007, a small handful of local residents, having met as Epiphany: The Living Room Church at 6305 N. Peoria Ave., since 2004, in the unincorporated urban-rural-small-town of Turley on the northern edge of Tulsa, decided to transform themselves by moving into a larger rented space at 6514 N. Peoria Avenue in Turley. We created that space as a free community center for residents living in a two-mile radius, primarily in zip codes 74126, 74130. A Third-Place Community Center was born. We began working toward creating a new non-profit community development foundation to sustain the center and its projects and greater mission and vision. Its service area of a two-mile radius—from 46th to 86th Street North, and Highway 75 to Osage County Line---was chosen because it is the area in which our residents primarily shop, go to school, use services, and many work. It is also a bridge area connecting incorporated and unincorporated neighborhoods of great ethnic and age diversity, and one of our core values is working toward reconciliation.

Mission: To Change The World Though Small Acts of Justice Done with Great Love.

Vision: Creating many diverse kinds of “third place” centers and connections for the development of community life.

Why a Community Garden Park?

We are in recession… Our public community centers have been closed, especially in our lowest income areas... Oklahoma is dead last on the list of healthy states… And our 74126-zip code has the lowest life expectancy in our area... 40 percent of the vacant residential properties in our two-mile radius have been abandoned… We live in a healthy food desert…one/third of our citizens feel insecure about feeding themselves and their families with healthy food.

Because of, and despite all this…. We at A Third-Place Community Center believe another way is possible…

Sustainable Community Development One Block at a Time.

Taking a full acre block (12 lots) at 60th and N. Johnstown Avenue, with abandoned houses and trash, in an area overlooking downtown Tulsa, bridging two ethnically diverse low income areas…. And developing a Community Garden Park with community planting beds, mobile demonstration kitchen, playground, and open space to stage social events from plays to concerts, fireworks displays, picnics, and community and family gatherings. A Third Place maintains that access to fresh, nutritious, affordable food by community members is vital in promoting community health and preventing disease and that a community garden can provide not only a source of vegetables and fruit, but also educate the wider community about organics, food, and food security issues.

The proposed site for the A Third Place Community Garden Park is located within an unincorporated part of the city of Tulsa, and directly adjacent to an incorporated area of the city. According to the Indian Nations Council of Governments (INCOG), in 2009 the city of Tulsa adopted a community garden clause to its zoning code to accommodate community gardens in areas zoned RS-3. Unfortunately, Tulsa County has not yet adopted such a clause. Because the proposed project site is in the unincorporated area of the county, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Tulsa County Zoning Code of RS (Residential Single Family) and A Third-Place Community Foundation will need a special exception from the Tulsa County Adjustment Board for community use in an RS zoned district. The Foundation will have to submit an application, along with a diagram of current platting, to the Tulsa County Board of Adjustment, who will schedule a hearing to review, and hopefully approve, the exception proposal.

In addition, the site also falls under the jurisdiction of the Tulsa County Health Department as it pertains to food handling and preparation. All food service establishments in Tulsa County, including mobile food vending operations, require a license that must be renewed annually. The Tulsa County Health Department categorizes mobile food services as follows:

Full-service mobile: a vehicle or trailer designed and equipped to prepare and serve open food products, whether paid for or provided free of charge, to the public. Full-service mobile food establishments are required to meet certain regulations regarding their construction, water system, equipment, personnel and food safety. The fee in the City of Tulsa for a full-service mobile food vendor is $200 per vehicle, while the Oklahoma State Fee for a full-service mobile food vendor is $350 per vehicle for all cities and mobile operations. Both permits are subject to annual renewal.

Benefits of Community Gardens:

· Improves the quality of life for people in the garden

· Provides a catalyst for neighborhood and community development

· Stimulates Social Interaction

· Encourages Self-Reliance

· Beautifies Neighborhoods

· Produces Nutritious Food

· Reduces Family Food Budgets

· Conserves Resources

· Creates opportunity for recreation, exercise, therapy, and education

· Reduces Crime

· Preserves Green Space

· Creates income opportunities and economic development

· Reduces city heat from streets and parking lots

· Provides opportunities for intergenerational and cross-cultural connections

Community gardens not only provide access to fresh, nutritious food – they also serve as a place to build supportive relationships among people of all ages and backgrounds. In addition, community gardens provide the opportunity to educate citizens about the importance of good nutrition for child development and educational achievement, chronic disease prevention, and obesity prevention.

A Third-Place Foundation envisions that the Community Garden Park will create opportunities for discussion and education in the community about urban agriculture, organic gardening, food security, and many other topics as the Community Garden Park grows and solidifies the area.

Increasing the amount and availability of locally grown, more healthful organic food that our citizens can consume could reduce the area’s “carbon footprint”, a measure of carbon emissions. Our community garden would increase the amount of locally grown food available to our citizens, as well as, the related benefits of decreasing the distance that food must travel to our community, which would in turn decrease transportation-caused CO2 emissions. In addition to lower transportation emissions, the Community Garden Park would also be more sustainable. The Community Garden Park would not use harmful pesticides or other chemicals, which can leach into groundwater. A Third-Place Foundation maintains the Community Garden Park would be a much more environmentally conscious choice. By utilizing a rainwater collection system for irrigation of the garden, an outdoor earthen type oven, a natural “mound” stage for community events, solar powered lighting within the park, as well as additional environmentally friendly accoutrements, A Third-Place Community Foundation further maintains that this Community Garden Park would benefit the citizens of Turley, the surrounding area and Tulsa County. A Third Place intends to collaborate with community resources to sponsor semi-annual events to clean up and maintain the park.

Reference

Davis, B., & Radford, D. (2014). Going beyond the waterfall: Managing scope effectively across the project life cycle. Plantation, FL: J. Ross.

Meredith, J., Shafer, S., Mantel, S., Jr., & Sutton, M. (2014). Project management in practice (5th ed.)

Project Management Institute (2013). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK® guide) (5th ed.)