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Board approves PAC Center MOU for State Street garden plan and $7,500 CDBG food pantry grant
Summary
La Porte’s Board of Public Works approved a memorandum of understanding with the PAC Center to manage nine planters on State Street as a community garden program and approved a $7,500 CDBG public services grant to the PAC Center food pantry.
The La Porte City Board of Public Works on April 22 approved a memorandum of understanding with the PAC Center to convert nine brick planters on State Street into vegetable planters managed by the nonprofit, and separately approved a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) public services agreement of $7,500 to support the PAC Center’s food pantry.
At the meeting, PAC Center representative Jamie Buchanan described the proposed “State Street Garden Walk,” which would convert nine planters from State and Monroe eastward to vegetable plots available to the community. Buchanan said the PAC Center already operates three community gardens in La Porte and would provide plants and volunteers; the city would provide watering and some street-department assistance with soil and mulch.
City staff said the city will be responsible for watering the nine planters and noted an offer from the street department to supply a watering truck and assistance with routine maintenance. Buchanan said the PAC Center would provide plants and tending; a waiver of assumption-of-risk was drafted with the city attorney and included in the agreement.
The board also approved a $7,500 CDBG public services grant for the PAC Center’s food pantry for program year 2024; the packet used the same grant stipulations the city has used in prior years. Both motions passed by voice vote with no substantive objections recorded.
City staff said the garden program is modeled on a larger Unity Gardens program in South Bend and would start on a smaller scale in La Porte. The MOU and the grant take effect after signatures and will be filed according to standard city procedures.
